Bleach: The Soul King's Story
by Ronnin-themanwithnoprinciples
Summary: The Soul King of Seretei, what made him so special anyways? Well it turns out he did a lot of work before Ichigo's story, in fact he and his brother, identity unknown , were the first two Shinigami Soul Reapers to ever walk Soul Society. -ABANDONED-
1. DISCLAIMER

DISCLAIMER

I do not own any content from Bleach, I only claim my OC's and their zanpakuto's.


	2. Begin the Ages

Bleach: The Soul King Saga

Chapter 1: begin the ages

_You have heard the struggles of Ichigo Kurosaki and some perils of Seretei, however, you are yet to learn how much came to be. So now, for you to understand the true struggles of Seretei, we will take you back in time once more, 1,000,000,000 years before Ichigo received shinigami powers._

In a Seretei-less soul-society a man walks into bar,

"Hey Sho, hit me with my regular." Said the man.

"Hey Ronnin, here you go." Sho says as he gives Ronnin a drink.

"Thanks man, here you go." Ronnin pays Sho the money for his drink.

"You ok Ronnin, you seem a bit weary?" Sho asks.

"Nah, I'm just tired, long night." Ronnin replies.

"Ha, that's just like you, but today might not be the best day for you to be tired."

"Why's that?"

"It's because there are some guys coming in that don't like you." Says Sho.

"Oh no, witch is it, Iga clan, or Joto clan?" asks Ronnin.

"Actually it's the Wastobi clan."

"Oh no, not them, that pact of pathetic weaklings, yes, there not even worth half awake."

"Oh, you sound confi-." Sho starts to say as 5 men walk in and situate next to Ronnin asking for drinks.

Ronnin quickly finishes his drink and stands up saying "Thanks Sho." And begins to walk away when one of the men talk back to him.

"Hey I almost missed it, your Ronnin, you owe us remember." He holds out his hand as if to receive money.

"He, it's too bad I don't have any money left huh?" Ronnin ignores his and then elbows the man in the gut.

"Ah, oh, your going to pay for that, but this time in cold blood." The man takes out a sword and swings at Ronnin.

Ronnin takes out a sword of his own and blocks the strike then kicks him in the place he elbowed him.

"Dang you." Says the man as he gets up on his feet again and is frustrated.

Ronnin cuts his arm and he goes up in a fury of pain and rage.

"Wow, even weaker than I thought." Ronnin says, slightly baffled staring at the injured man weeping on the floor.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ahhhh, ahhhhhhh. Ah-." He suddenly stops wining but stresses to say anything.

"Hey, boss!" one of the other men at the table shout at him as the man's body explodes into a skinny and slimy body and some kind of white mask appears on his face and a hole where his heart should be and it makes a low pitch howling sound.

"WH-What the heck is that thing?!" Ronnin shouts in terror as it jumps swinging its arm hitting Ronnin into the ground as another man appears at the bar's door.

"Ronnin!" shouts the man

"Uh, no brother, get away from here." He shouts back but his brother seems paralyzed in fear already.

"What… is that thing?" he asks as Ronnin jumps up and back to avoid more of the monster tries to attack again.

"I don't know, but it _was_ human."

"What, something so horrible was made from a human being."

"Yes, now draw your sword." He tells his brother who does so and they both run at the monster and slash him but when the blades make contact they don't even dent it and get swung into the air by the beast and when its arms make contact with them they both feel a strange heavy sensation on them as there are flung in the air, slightly bleeding from their faces.

They both swing themselves backward hoping to minimize damage instead the skid on the air as if standing on an invisible floor.

"Ah, how are we/?"

"I don't know." They both look at their hands feeling a power running through them

"But if it helps us I can't say I care, ready?" Ronnin asks.

"Y-yea." His brother replies and they both jump toward the monster and they go so fast others see them vanishing and reappearing in front of the monster slashing and this time wounding it as it howls in pain.

"Yes!" they both say and cross-slash up through its face making it fade away. Ronnin and his brother sheave their swords grinning with satisfaction as they hear some people from outside the shop.

"Amazing, how they stood in the air."

"Wait, were they wearing that before."

"I don't think I've seen fabric quite like that."

"How come we don't get cloth like that?"

"Huh, our clothes?" Ronnin says as he looks down to see both him and his brother wearing fine black robes instead of what they were wearing before.

"Uh, maybe we should leave before we attract anymore attention?" his brother says, looking more confused than ever.

"Yea, good idea." They both leave for their house as the townsfolk stare off after them.


	3. The Blueprints

Chapter 2: The Blueprints

Ronnin walks into the bar the next day, some people stopping and looking at him, then grinning and going back to their business. "Hey Sho, regular again."

"Oh hey Ronnin, huh, you're still wearing those weird robes."

"Ah, yea, there not that bad"

"I see, so, did you get some kind of explanation for all the things that happened yesterday."

"Yea, hallow is what we're calling that thing."

"Hollow?"

"Yea, a being that losses its heart due to extreme hatred or distress."

"I see, and you?"

"I'm calling my brother and I Balancers, but I guess we really owe our transformation to that Hollow, when it hit us its strength was poured into us, giving us the powers we can now use."

"What are you calling your powers?"

"Well our fast run is shunpo, a special run that is so fast only those with a trained eye or equal speed can see. And we also got started on some blueprints."

"Blueprints, for what?"

"A living place for all future Balancers, and it will be called, Seretei."

Within a few weeks, word about Seretei had gotten out, and everyone wanted to help build it, and with the extra help, they said it could be done in as little as 1000 year. But then about 50 years after the start of construction, everyone turned up to work in the morning, but the two Balancers didn't turn up. The people of soul society went up to their house, and it was completely destroyed, even the ground around it seemed disturbed.

Many had made theories on how they vanished; some think they fled, felt like a burden to soul society that wasn't needed, others believe they ran in search of a better place to build Seretei, some think a Hollow came during the night and killed them in their sleep; but no one can confirm any of these, and no trace of them was left behind. Now, without them, they could no longer complete the Seretei project, for they were the only ones who ever saw any part of its blueprint, however, as a tribute to them, they left the unfinished city like it was, and left it there for generations untouched.

But then, about 1000 years later, another man became a Balancer, and accessed Seretei to try and see if any clue was left inside, for no one dared entered Seretei after the accident, and when he was rounding the place, he came upon a house that was completed, though in stories he'd heard, no building was ever finished in Seretei's production, he went closer and found the actual blueprints of Seretei on the wall that surrounded the building, and on the back of them it had a message on it. This message read;

_ Hello, if you are reading this letter, you must have obtained powers of a Balancer, for the incantation upon this requires you to be one. First you must understand why my brother and I vanished, and it was for the cause of greater purpose, we realized, that we couldn't run Seretei ourselves, for personal reasons I cannot tell you. My brother and I had a battle to see who would stay and guard Soul Society and who would leave to find new land, out of view to build our own Seretei, I, Ronnin, won the battle to stay and guard, however, I have not yet received note of my brother's whereabouts, I am worried he never did set out for the cause he was meant to do. Now you must understand what to do with these blueprints, you are to build Seretei and become the Head Captain of the thirteen court guard squads, protectors of Soul Society, and once complete, hide these blueprints in a secret location and tell no one where they are. Now, this is most important. Throughout many years, I will hand pick 12 captain level Balancers to serve as my Royal guard and will vanish completely, leaving nothing behind, also, there is to be no record of my brother's or my existence. Lastly, I have hidden something very important in the world of the living, a special piece of my reiatsu called Jurichi which I will move every now and then for safe keeping, and there is a special key to the house this was on, the one I'm in, its location is very secret, only you can know its location, and there is to be no record of it, this key is called the Oken, there is one already, the Jurichi is what can make a new one, as you will find, my house is no longer in Seretei, I have moved it to an alternate dimension which the Oken unlocks. Now read closely, and do not forget, the location of the Oken is…_

To the present day, only the current head captain, Yamamoto, knows where the Oken is hidden, But now that they have the blueprints, they could restart the production of Seretei, which they did so the very next day and it took almost 10,000 years to complete, by which time the academy for those who wish to become Balancers go for training and at least a fair 300 more Balancers had come to light, and two had even achieved bankai level.


	4. Rerun the Story

Chapter 3: re-run the story

Throughout time, Ronnin had special roles in how things went in Seretei. Ronnin was the one who told Kiske Urahara how to make the Hogyoku and Yodirichi to assure the safety of the vizords and Urahara. He told them to take refuge in the world of the living.

Furthermore, he is the one who made it where the Sokyoku unable to get passed Ichigo when he rescued Rukia. He also supported there powers while they were in Hueco Mundo. However there is something else Ronnin did that you do not know, 50 years before Ichigo Kurosaki obtained his Shinigami powers, He and his completed Royal guard were to test the strength and abilities of the Thirteen Court Guard Squad Captains.


	5. The Staged Invasion

Chapter 4: The Staged Invasion

_50 years before the substitute Shinigami, Ichigo Kurosaki, gained his powers, the Thirteen Court Guard Squad Captains were tested by Ronnin and his Royal Guard. Each captain was given a member of the guard that would best suit each of their Zanpaktou's abilities, and so, they staged an invasion into Seretei from the outside._

Thirteen Shinigami approach the southern gate of Seretei as the one in front signals 3 to the eastern gate, 3 to the western gate, and 3 to the northern gate. They all take out their Zanpaktou's and as if they were right next to each other destroy the gates simultaneously gaining the attention of all Seretei immediately.

On the inside Toushiro Histugaya and Hinamori Momo shunpo up above Seretei to see what happened.

"Wh-What on earth!"

"Ahhhh, how could this happen?"

"Momo, go worn the Head Captain, I'll see if I can't figure out what happened."

"Right!" Momo replies and they both shunpo off in separate directions and Momo soon reaches the Head Captain.

"Do not speak, I am already aware, and have sent battle orders to all captains, lieutenants are to keep their squads in order."

"Uh, only the captains, why resort to that so soon, we don't even know who they are?"

"Because they are all captain level, I could feel the rush of reistu the moment they broke down the gates, 13 of them, only captains could stand against them."

"Thir-Thirteen, but that means…"

"They are likely to be here on a quest to destroy the thirteen captains, so I am sending the captains strait away. You are to make sure no one in your squad does anything reckless.

"Understood," Momo Shunpo's back to her squads barracks as the captains and vice-captains all receive hell butterflies giving them orders. Kunimora, Byakuya, and Aizen were to go to the west gate; Kyouraku and Ukitake were to go to the east gate; Kenpachi, and Tosen was to assist Histugaya at the north gate; and Soi Fon, Kurutsuchi, and Ichimaru were to go to the south gate. Unohana was to wait to heal the wounded when the battles were over. They all appeared at the gates to find the intruders appearing through the gates, 4 at the north, and 3 at all the others. One from the east and north gates Shunpo out of the field as they are noticed. And so the invasion began.


	6. The Ice Brethren

Chapter 5: the ice brethren

At the north gate when the three captains appear before the intruders one man vanishes.

"Where'd he go?" Histugaya asks

"Does it matter," Tosen says, "there are 13 intruders, all captain level, it will be much easier in one-on-one battles, don't you think?"

"I suppose so."

"Hey, what the heck are you talking about over there?" One of the intruders shouts from the gate as the three walk toward them.

"Yea, it's rude to ignore us like that." Another says

"Well I'll start our communication; witch of you three is the strongest?" Kenpachi asks

"I would be, out of these three, fallow me." The third says and he and one of the others shunpo of in different directions, quickly fallowed by Kenpachi and Tosen.

"Ah, this is much better, just two reistu clashing instead of six, don't you think?"

"Cut the talk, I, Captain Toushiro Histugaya, shall end this quickly."

"Tough talk captain, I am Rin, 8th member of the Twilight Worrier, and I agree, let's end this chat, and start the action." Both then pull out their Zanpaktou's and slash at each other, swords clashing as they jump back and Rin Shunpo's at Histugaya and appears behind him slashing but Histugaya side steps out of the way and counters but Rin blocks and pushes him back.

Histugaya lands on the ground and puts up his zanpaktou calling, "Sit upon frozen Heavens, Hyorinmaru!" At that moment at the hilt of his sword a chain with a crescent moon blade on the end and an ice dragon extends from the blade attacking Rin.

"What the?" He Shunpo's out of the way just in time and appear a foot to the left with a shocked expression.

"What's the matter, my shikai shouldn't come as any particular surprise."

"Hee, He said that my opponent would be interesting, but I had no idea about that part. Well then, I'll show you my shikai now; glide over frozen seas, Burufenikkusume." A crescent moon shaped blade appears on his swords hilt and on both sides of his hand guard and when he slashes an ice phoenix attacks Histugaya but he dodges also looking shocked.

"That zanpaktou is, so much like mine."

"Indeed it is, and that's because… Burbfenikkusume, is Hyorinmaru's sister zanpaktou!"

"Uh, how is that even possible?"

"You'll have to ask your zanpaktou for that answer. Now let's continue." Rin Shunpo's behind Histugaya and slashes him and Histugaya blocks, but then Rin releases a spray of ice from his blade that hits Histugaya and Rin jumps back.

"Huff, puff; uh, crap."

"Had enough yet, captain?"

"Don't count me out yet, I'm through playing with you; Ban-kai!" Ice sheets begin covering the field and dust clears Histugaya has an ice dragon suit over his body.

"Diaguren Hyorinmaru."

"Your Bankai eh, well let's see how long I can go without mine."

Histugaya flies toward Rin slashing him across his chest but Rin haste fully blocks but is blown away into a building doing so.

"OK, bad question, well then my turn, Bankai!" When Rin's bankai is released he is covered in an ice phoenix suit.

"Furueburufenikkusume," Rin charges at Histugaya and slashes him and releasing a large ice structure at him witch he blocks but is sent flying into a wall.

"Ha, giving up yet?" Rin yells but at that moment Histugaya jumps out of the dust speeding toward Rin scraping his shoulder witch freezes him instantly in a block of ice.

"Ryusenka. You are the one who should have given…" But he stops as the ice around Rin shatters and he is perfectly fine.

"Should have what now?"

"H-How did you?" Histugaya asks, wide-eyed

"My zanpaktou did it, Burufenikkusume knows her brothers tricks, and knows how to break them as well."

"So none of my abilities will work on you huh?"

"Well, she hasn't learned how to block them _all_."

"I see well then, let's go." Histugaya jabs at Rin but Rin dodges and jumps away.

Fighting between the two continue for about half an hour and the battle field is covered in their Zanpaktou's ice and they are both covered in wounds, cuts, and bruises.

"Huff, puff, I didn't really expect you to last this long, captain."

"You must not have done your homework on us very well then, you underestimated me because of I'm the child of Seretei, but I'm still a captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads!"

"I see, well I'm quite done playing this game, I'm going to finish this." Rin holds up his Zanpaktou and five large ice spikes appear in front of him.

"I don't have much time to play around any ways." The ice flower petals above his bankai has been reduced to but 2 petals left and hundreds of ice pillars appear around Rin.

"NOW!"

"NOW!" They shout at each other in unison and launch their attacks on each other and 4 of Rin's spikes are caught by Histugaya's pillars and right before the attacks make contact with the other…

CHIM, CHIM


	7. The Shrouded Man & the Shocking Presence

Chapter 6: The Shrouded man and The Shocking presence

Tosen fallowed one of the intruders to an open area clear of any people before the intruder stopped and immediately draws his sword stabbing at Tosen. Tosen dodges stepping back and drawing his sword.

"Hee, good reflexes for a blind man." The intruder shouts.

"I sense your movements with my reistu senses." Tosen says back.

"I see, well I'm really not much for introductions but, I might as well tell you my name. It's Hikaru, 7th member of the Twilight Worriers."

"Tosen, now I would very much appreciate it if you and your Twilight Worriers could leave us be and leave."

"I'm not really sorry when I say we're not going to leave any time soon."

"I was afraid of that, then I am the sorry one, but for the sake of peace I must terminate you. Cry, Suzumushi." A high pitch sound emits from Tosen's zanpaktou and rings in Hikaru's ear and seems to knock him unconscious.

"Don't take me for a fool because I lack sight." Tosen says then Hikaru Shunpo's from the ground behind Tosen and stabbing him but Tosen jumps and dodges.

"Darn, you saw through me." He says slightly sarcastic.

"I might have been fooled, have you been smart enough to weaken your reistu when you fell trying to convince me you were unconscious."

"I see, but you see, we are already taking precautions in this fighting, I don't really think it would be wise to weaken my reistu like that if I can help it."

"Precautions, what do you mean by that?" Tosen asks but doesn't get an answer before Hikaru Shunpo's in front of him jabbing making him try to dodge but get scratched by the blade and Shunpo's back.

"Looks like I over-estimated you then, I thought with how well you claim you reistu sight is, you might be able to tell. Oh well, I guess I can't really say more on the topic."

"I understand, then I must end this fast. Shatter, Suzumushi Nishiki: Benihiko." Tosen jumps up above Hikaru and slashes the air causing hundreds of blades to shower down upon him.

"Split in fury, Raikoudageki." Hikaru releases his zanpaktou into a shikai form of electricity that shoots from the blade compact and blocks all the blades Tosen sends at him.

"Ha, is that all your shikai can do, pierce someone's mind with high pitch sounds and send out blades, it's a wonder you're a captain."

"Uh, amazing, the reistu resonating from his zanpaktou is being spread throughout the battlefield, I'm afraid I won't…" But then Tosen jumps sensing a spike of reistu come at him thinking it as lighting.

"What are you doing, lighting is uncontrollable, so my reistu goes flying everywhere to make sure I don't let my zanpaktou run amuck and accidental hit me."

(So I dodged thin air, no, he's trying to catch me off guard, he must need a path of his reistu out for his lighting zanpaktou to fallow, this is going to be difficult for me.) Tosen thinks and sends out more blades running around Hikaru making them go at him from all directions and to defend, Hikaru sends lightning around him witch keeps the blades from reaching him.

"I thought so." Tosen says, with Hikaru suddenly realizing what he had done. "Your zanpaktou can only go to a place specified by your reistu, before sending your lightning anywhere; you send your reistu in that direction as a director. Earlier when you said you naturally had it run amuck to keep your zanpaktou was to try and catch me off guard so I would hesitate with your reistu coming at me thinking it was harmless."

"And instead getting shocked by lightning." Hikaru says, finishing Tosen sentence.

"Now let us finish this, Bankai." Tosen puts his hand to the circle on his hand guard as it spins and grows larges and splits into 8 of them and compact the two in a high stilted black bubble that is Tosen's Bankai. "Suzumushi Tsuishiki: Enma Korogi." Tosen says but Hikaru doesn't react to anything after the release of his Bankai.

(What kind of zanpaktou is this Bankai, I can't see or hear anything around me, I can't even tell… Uh,) Hikaru slashes the air behind him feeling the fresh cut that appeared on his shoulder but is unsuccessful in hitting anything. (I see, this Bankai fits him rather well, it eliminates his opponent's ability to sense anything but the sensation of touch, how troublesome.) Again something strikes Hikaru and his reaction is faster but still misses and instead scratches the ground where a small rip appears and a light appears. (Uh, wait, I can see that, witch means, any light given inside…) Hikaru grins and Tosen notices this.

"Now what on earth could you be smiling abo."

"BANKAI,"

"What?" Nothing appears to happen.

"MeianRaikoudageki," The light from the hole vanishes and though nothing seems to happen Hikaru raises his blade twisting it and a lightning bolt from above him zapping through Tosen's Bankai and allowing him to see for a short range.

"Nice job with this Bankai, it's so fragile." Suddenly many more bolts of lightning are shot through in random areas of the Bankai until he sees Tosen in one of the accruing lights. "There." He shoots lightning from his zanpaktou toward Tosen to finish the fight and before it hits Tosen…

CHIM, CHIM


	8. The Monsters of War

Chapter 7: The Monsters of War

Kenpachi chases after the man who said he was the strongest of the three intruders until they come to a long and narrow path.

"So, you're the strongest of the intruders' right?"

"Well, the strongest at that gate, of all of the Twilight Worriers, I am the 12th strongest."

"Huh, so you're really pretty weak."

"No, besides everyone else has already gotten an opponent, so you're stuck with me weather or not you like it."

"Fine, just try to make this enjoyable." Kenpachi draws his zanpaktou and readies himself.

"We'll we how that turns out." The intruder takes out his zanpaktou and is about to attack.

"Now tell me, what is your name?"

"Now why should I tell you my name when you are going to die?"

"I see, well we have different costumes, you see, we of the 11th squad let our opponents know the name of their killer; so pay close attention now, Zaraki Kenpachi is the name of the man that killed you."

"Now that's funny, you kill me, if everyone who told me that was as strong as they thought, I wouldn't be here right now. Now let's get this on." The intruder says and charges at Kenpachi and he blocks the attack without budging then pushes him back and slashes him across the chest shallowly.

"You see, you can't even touch me and you're already wounded, this is no fun at all."

"Ha, hahaha, oh good, sorry master, but I don't think I'll be able to fallow protocol on this one." The intruder says and his reistu increases overwhelmingly.

Over in front of the Head Captains office two men appear and stop at the reistu.

"What the heck is he doing releasing that much reistu, he's under protocol?"

"Well you can't really blame him; his opponent is the monster of Seretei isn't it."

"I guess so, but he better be beat up when I see him or I'll beat him myself."

"Oh, so you've been holding back till now? Your reistu is quite strong, let's see how much better you are now." Kenpachi lunges forward and slashes the intruder but he blocks with great ease and shoves him to the side making him hit the ground.

"Well, are you satisfied with my strength?" he asks as Kenpachi gets back up slashing him but he dodges and Kenpachi lands on his feet.

"Yes, that's more like it, so now I can break loose a bit." Kenpachi says and strikes again this time with greater force and puts a crater where the intruder stands.

"What power," the intruder says and jumps back avoiding Kenpachi's blow.

"So, now I'll release more power myself. Strike back, Zen'nonoha," the intruder releases his zanpaktou into two separate blades one short, curved, and sharp tipped, the other long, strait, and broad.

"Zen'nonoha, is that the name of your zanpaktou? It sounds like the zanpaktou for a man who loves battle; and a man worthy to battle me." Kenpachi says as the intruder Shunpo's behind him striking him with the smaller blade and Kenpachi jumps forward trying to avoid the attack but the strike is too fast and cuts his arm.

"Hee, not bad at all there," The Intruder doesn't reply lifting his broad sword and swinging it down to the ground making the ground break and rocks fly everywhere then appears in front of Kenpachi slashing his chest with the thin blade and Kenpachi backs away.

"Oh I see now, by releasing your zanpaktou it separates into two blades, one is thin and light allowing for swift..." The intruder tries to attack again but Kenpachi is able to block and push him away, "and precise attacks, Yet the other is much bigger and heavier, making it harder to hit with, but can easily destroy terrain making a cover for more attacks.

"Hee," the intruder laughs, "you're a lot smarter than you look soul reaper. But before we continue, you said that you let your opponent know the name of their killers: well then listen close, for I will only say it once. Ken is the name of the man that killed you!"

"Ken huh, well I'm honored that you've decided to tell me; now let's continue."

The battle between Ken and Kenpachi rages for a very long time both gaining considerable scars and wounds.

"You really are strong, captain," Ken says "I guess It's about time I let loss to the next step; Bankai!" The two swords shift in shape then fuse to become one spiked, black and white blade emitting a dark and light glow. "Zen'nonotenrankainoha, the only other naturally twilight elemental zanpaktou in our group,"

"Naturally elemental, does that mean your group was miss-named?"

"No, all members Zanpaktou's are Twilight, but all the others were tainted with our leader's reistu to become stronger," Ken's reistu strengthens "and that's the only reason I'm so low on the ranking, everyone else was fused with the leader's reistu."

"Is that why you told me you were the strongest, because in natural strength, you are, other than maybe a few of them." Ken charges Kenpachi slashing him but he blocks however is shoved back cutting him and continuing rapidly inflicting more wounds to Kenpachi but than he jumps back and starts to laugh.

"Now this is real power, I haven't felt such elision in so long; I think I can fight you without holding back!" Kenpachi rips off his eye patch uncovering tons on tons of reistu.

"Uh, this reistu, such height and pressure,"

"Yea I had to use this so that I couldn't use all my power, otherwise in most of my battles, they wouldn't last long enough for me to enjoy them; now how about we finish this with one last strike?" Kenpachi holds up his sword waiting for Ken to do the same.

"Sounds good to me," Ken holds his Bankai up as well and they stand still for a few moments then simultaneously jump at each other and right before their blades make contact with each other…

CHIM, CHIM


	9. Poison's Stealth

_Chapter 8__: Poisons Stealth_

At the South Gate Myuri Kurutsuchi, Soi Fon, and Gin Ichimaru arrived to find three Shinigami waiting there.

"Hm the three of them have a nice reistu about them alright, just as the Head captain said." Gin says.

"Yes, but something seems wrong, if they are here to destroy Seretei they wouldn't have crushed the gates and waited on an opponent; instead they would have simple charged and made havoc." Soi Fon replies.

"Ah, these men do have an unusual sense of them; they might make good test subjects." Kurutsuchi states."

"You," One of the intruders say, pointing at Kurutsuchi, "fallow me." The intruder runs away and Kurutsuchi, intrigued, decides to do so.

"That one seems to be someone I can handle." Gin says pointing at one of the intruders and beckoning him to fallow as he Shunpo's away, and indeed he does.

"Well then, looks like you're mine; so tell me, who is it that I have the pleasure of fighting." Soi Fon asks her opponent.

"I am Akane, ninth strongest member of the Twilight Worriers; and you are Soi Fon, head of the punishment force and stealth force, along with being captain of squad two."

"So you know who we all are do you?"

"You know the saying: keep your enemies close; well knowing them is just as effective," Akane gets in a fighting position, "I also know your very skilled in hand-to-hand combat, so lets dance."

"Very well," Soi Fon makes her fighting position and the two of them embark in a fist fight, making a series of Shunpo that is equal on both sides.

"Your speed is quite good." Soi Fon remarks to Akane.

"Not bad yourself," Akane says back as they kick off each other and pull out their Zanpaktou's, Rushing at each other again slashing and jabbing but their speeds are so matched, neither of them can land a blow on the other.

"Time to take it up a notch," Akane says and Shunpo's behind Soi Fon faster than before, leaving her barely enough time to dodge a fatal strike but getting cut by the tip of Akane's blade. "Got you," she yells and puts her zanpaktou to the air "sting and slash, Dokugai," Akane releases her zanpaktou witch turns into a long purple-black scythe with a poison tipped blade.

"Huh, what do you mean, hitting me with your sealed blade, then releasing a poison tip Shikai won't help you."

"Ah but my zanpaktou has a special ability, it can implant poison where ever It has already cut, whether in Shikai or sealed." Akane says and Soi Fon feels a burning feeling where her wound is. "The poison will take at most 1 hour before taking its full toll; the only way to get rid of the poison is to revert my zanpaktou back to its sealed state."

"Sting all enemies to death," Soi Fon begins, "Suzumebachi," Soi Fon releases her zanpaktou into a small finger blade of gold and black then Shunpo's much faster than earlier repeatedly around Akane to confuse her then strikes her in the back as a small black butterfly pattern appears as Akane Shunpo's away with a shocked face she was caught off guard like that.

"Suzumebachi; death in two strikes, if I hit you a second time in the same spot, this battle is all over."

"Is that right, well then I just have to stall until my poison takes affect."

"I'm not going to give you that chance!" Soi Fon says ands Shunpo's behind Akane to deliver the kill blow but Akane turns, catching the finger blade with her scythe and pushes her away.

"Like I said, all I got to do is stall."

"For a whole hour, don't kid me?"

"No, not a whole hour, the mission most likely won't take that long."

_The mission, wasn't it to kill off the captains off Seretei?_ Soi Fon ponders what she could mean by that as Akane charges and slashes her but Soi Fon just barely dodges. "What happened to stalling?"

"Dodging and blocking aren't the only ways to stall for something, plus, if that's all I did do, the leader would scold me to death for not being serious."

"I see, well then don't waste time." Soi Fon jumps and strikes Akane again, who strangely doesn't dodge and is hit on the check, where another mark appears but then she turns slashing Soi Fon across the shoulder, successful cutting her.

"UH," Soi Fon backs up, "why didn't you dodge that attack?"

"Why dodge such an insignificant attack that only kills when hitting the same place twice, as long as you don't aim for a place you've hit once already, I can go being hit for awhile, and by the way, with that wound, you're period till death is about 45 minutes.

"45 minutes huh, I can land a second hit in that time, I'll just be slightly more careful now."

Fighting between the Two Rages on for almost 20 minutes in witch time 5 other first hits have landed Akane and Soi Fon has only 10 minutes with gained attacks.

"Not long till you die of poison," Akane says as Soi Fon raises her zanpaktou to her shoulder and jabs herself. "WH-what are you doing?"

"The only thing I can do to prolong my life, fight your poison, with mine"

"Uh," _Of course, when two poisons enter the body they try to gain dominance over the other, canceling them out. _

"So now I won't die for awhile longer," Soi Fon says and then a rush of wind seems to come from her and she is surrounded by silver wind. "Like it, it's a special combination of kido and hakuda that I haven't even given a name to yet, although I didn't plan to use it against someone like you for a test drive."

_The Shunko, She has it? Hee, but she thinks she invented the technique, so I can't reveal it to her Other's posses it, plus it would give away my true identity. _"Well, handy skills you have there, so what do you say we end this already?" Akane raises her reistu and several small blades appear on the edge of her scythe.

"Sounds good to me," The two charge at each other ready for a final blow as…

CHIM, CHIM


	10. Speed and Range

_Chapter 9: Speed and Range_

Gin Ichimaru and his opponent stop in a considerably large area for their fight.

"Alright, this seems like a good spot, now how about telling me your name, intruder?"

"Isn't it customary for you to introduce yourselves first, Gin Ichimaru of squad 3?"

"Well, you already seem to know who I am, don't you, but I suppose your right about that."

"I am Xun, 11th strongest member of the Twilight Worriers."

"Only 11, so you're the third weakest in your parade?"

"Yes, but don't take me too lightly because of my number."

"Of course not, shall we begin?"

"Sounds good to me." The two of them charge and slash at each other a few times each then clash swords, holding them against each other.

"Hm, not bad," Ichimaru begins, "but you're going to find more speed is required to hit me." Gin pushes off against Xun and slashes very quick and Xun blocks enough to make the wound very shallow and then shunpo behind Gin and slash but Ichimaru Shunpo's dodging.

"Like I said, you need to be faster than that to catch me."

"I'll show you speed," Xun Shunpo's appearing at the side of Gin and slashing his arm as Gin pulls away to avoid a major injury. "How's that for speed?"

Gin examines his blood and then looks back at Xun. "Not bad at all, now to step up a bit," Gin pulls his blade back, "Shoot to kill, Shinso." His blade glows white and extends forward to strike Xun and he puts his blade up to block it but is pushed back into a far wall, then without retracting the blade Ichimaru lifts the incredible long blade and swings down on top of where Xun had fallen and then retracts the blade to its original length. But then Xun appears behind Ichimaru yet doesn't strike.

"Don't move; my Shikai is a gun, Ganken." He says breathing heavily and bleeding from his head.

"Oh, a gun, you know what the problem with guns are…" He says and seems to wait for a reply then continues. "The ends are too easy to cut off." He shifts away from blast zone and slashes down on where the gun barrel would be but meets a black blade on the end of a black gun with a white cross on the side and Xun puts a white gun with a black cross on the side and white blade on top to his head and shoots but Gin pulls his head over just in time and jumps away.

"When you said it was a gun, I thought you had meant just one gun, just one regular gun, but instead, I meet two gun blades."

"Did you really think I would mean that?"

"Well I guess not, but it could have been." Xun puts up one of the guns and shoots one bullet and gin puts up his sword to where it would pass, cutting the bullet in half and the two pieces go by him, as he feels a large rush of wind and the hulls hit the ground with immense force breaking the ground beneath them and kicking up rock and dirt, surprising Gin.

"My, my, quite some power in those hulls of yours."

"And that's not their only trick; blade mode." Xun's guns straiten and the blades center themselves at the end of the gun, turning them into short duel blades and Xun Shunpo's behind Gin stabbing his shoulder.

"Shinso," Gin's blade extends from behind his robes concealing it and piercing Xun in his side.

"Uh," Xun reforms his blades to guns and pulls the trigger putting a bullet through Gin and jumping back, spitting up blood, and the pair are breathing hard.

"Well, well, well; it would appear there's more to your gun then meets the eye."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh please, it was obvious the way you quickly transverse back to gun mode that your bullets hold a special serum of some kind, and I thought that was the case since I cut your first bullet in two. I noticed a small residue of black dust on the tip of my blade, and knew I could only have come from your bullets contents. So what happens next, I drop from spread shock, a slow acting poison…"

"Try illusion serum,"

"Uh,"

"The black bullet contains contents of my own reistu witch has the ability to throw off the sense of sight and hearing along with a prevention of moving outside the illusion. And any power used in the illusion drains your reistu outside of it."

"And I would suppose that makes the white guns bullet the antidote?"

"You're smarter than you look Gin Ichimaru, but I'm afraid you've missed a few details." Xun states and Gin feels like he has been slashed but no wound appears.

"You see, I can attack you outside of the illusion, and you will feel it in the illusion, normally I don't let my opponent's know this, because it would allow them to figure out the weakness of it, but sense you figured it out there's no real point."

"The weakness of your bullet?"

"Yes, but I'm not about to tell you what it is." Xun says and slashes Gin again.

_Something that everyone must possess is its weakness, otherwise to those who don't possess it he would tell without fear, the only thing all spirits, soul reaper or hollow is…_

"Reistu," Gin Shouts and raises his reistu high and the illusion around him breaks as Xun falls back but not fast enough to escape Shinso jabbing his shoulder and Xun shunpo's away.

"Dang, you figured it out so fast?"

Gin breathes heavily from the injuries Xun put on him, "It was easy really, after thinking about it for a moment. This has dragged on long enough, how about we end this with one last blow?" Gin holds up his blade, ready to extend.

"Yea sounds good" Xun holds up his black gun and its white cross fades to black.

"Let me guess; now it goes from illusion to something much stronger, right?"

"Death serum."

The two size each other up one last time and Xun shoots as Gin extends his blade and right before kill hits…

CHIM, CHIM


	11. Poison a Poison

_Chapter 10:Poison a Poison_

Kurotsuchi fallows the intruder to a wide area where they stop and face each other.

"So then, shall we get started captain?" the intruder says.

"You should make an interesting test subject indeed, your reistu is different from a regular soul reaper, I can't wait to uncover what the source of it is." Kurotsuchi says back.

"You think that you are going to live long enough to do something like that?"

"Oh, confident? When your facing the Squad 12 captain and Head of the Department of Research and Development, Myuri Kurotsuchi?"

"If that number told you are the 12th strongest captain, I still wouldn't be afraid."

"Oh?"

"I am the 13th strongest member in the Twilight Worriers, Kirio."

"13th, that means your the weakest of all the intruder's, I must say that is a bit of a disappointment, but you will still do as a test subject."

"I say it again, shall we get started, captain?"

"Yes, we should begin shouldn't we," Kurotsuchi says drawing his blade and slashing Kirio who then blocks and retaliates slashing back ad making Kurotsuchi jump back.

"Not bad," Kirio says. "But you still need to do better against me." Kirio remarks then begin slashing at Kurotsuchi repeatedly as she blocks and jumps back then shunpo's and slashes from behind but Kirio blocks and pushes him back.

"Split, Ashisogi Jizo," Kurotsuchi shouts his zanpaktou's name, releasing it into a three golden crooked blade with a baby face on its base with fumes coming out of it. Kurotsuchi charges at Kirio slashing her but he blocks then retaliates landing a minor blow.

"You're to slow," Kirio says but then Kurotsuchi shoots his hand off his own wrist with a chain that raps around her. "Wh-what the heck is this?"

"Not much, I just made sure u couldn't run this time." Kurotsuchi replies and raises his blade and slashes down on Kirio but at the last second of pushing against the chains she is able to slip through Shunpoing back several feet. "Oh, you couldn't dodge completely?" Kurotsuchi says with a grin on his face as Kirio looks at her shoulder where a small and slightly deep wound lies.

"So what, a minor injury like this is insignificant." she says running at Kurotsuchi and is about to slash but something appears to catch her off guard as she shunpo's past and away from him. "What, I can't move my arm."

"Of course you can't," Kurotsuchi says. "I disabled it with my zanpaktou's poison. You see my zanpaktou releases a toxic paralyzing poison every time it cuts, if that had been a major wound, you wouldn't be able to move at all."

"I see," Kirio says and charges again and waves her entire body with her arm fallowing the flow slashing slowly at Kurotsuchi who then dodges with ease.

"How pitiful," he says dodging the slow waved attacks of his opponents sword but after a few slashes Kirio switches hands and speeds up landing a strike to Kurotsuchi's shoulder with the unexpected change.

"Well, I'd say it's about time I released my zanpaktou, though I really don't think I need it." Kirio says. "Steal and expunge, Penaruti," Kirio releases her zanpaktou into a pair of gauntlets with a small bullet shooter in the middle. Kirio shunpo swinging one at Kurotsuchi who blocks but turns out that she attacked with his paralyzed arm then strikes him with her good arm landing a blow on his leg. Kurotsuchi sees this just in time and strikes Kirio's leg making a large wound on her knee and they both jump back.

"Hee." Kirio laughs at Kurotsuchi.

"What's so funny, you now have no control over either your right limbs."

"That may be so at the moment, but you should look at your right leg." Kirio says as Kurotsuchi looks down to see his leg seems to have lost form and crimpled up. "you see, Penaruti's ability allows me to suck out the life of anything it cuts, then use it as my bullets."

"Oh is that right, but that doesn't explain why you think this helps you so much?"

"It helps because I can use the energy to heal myself." Kirio shoots herself with the energy bullet and her wounds heal. "Just like that." Kirio stomps his leg to show it is completely healed but then is taken by surprise by something and clutches his leg.

"It would appear it only heals the wounds though, you see, the other ability of my zanpaktou is that, along with bring paralyzed, all pain given from the attack stays intact with your body. So even though you healed your injuries and removed my poison, you could not remove the pain."

"I see," Kirio understands as she stands up and shunpo's behind and tries to hit Kurotsuchi again but is blocked then strikes with the other gauntlet and Kurotsuchi reacts by moving his blade down, having one of the shorter blades on the side catch her gauntlet and block the next strike. Kirio uses this and turns removing her first gauntlet from Kurotsuchi's blade and hits his shoulder then shunpo's back.

"Now you will see what the attack is." Kirio puts up her gauntlet and fires an energy bullet at Kurotsuchi, who puts up his sword to block and when it hits the blade it splits in two and strikes both his shoulders. After the bullets hit Kurotsuchi, energy is repelled from the impact points, into Kirio's gauntlets.

"But that's not all, if the attack does indeed hit, the energy of where it hit is transferred back to my zanpaktou."

"Inconceivable, to be down-played by a mean intruder. Fine then, Bankai!" Kurotsuchi releases his zanpaktou into a gigantic centipede with a gold baby head and white halo breathing out some fumes Kirio takes for poison as he shunpo's up out of range. "Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo,"

"Well, I must say, that is an impressive Bankai, now what about mine; Bankai," Kirio's zanpaktou becomes a pair of thin metal gloves on his hand with small bullet thrusters on their sides. "Shikei,"

"quite a small bankai isn't it?"

"You know the saying, big things come in small packages, so how about u check this out." Kirio says and shunpo's on top of Kurotsuchi's bankai, setting his right glove on it, releasing a charge witch then blows that part of its body up and shunpo's away again. "You will have to pardon my leaving it alive, this wasn't meant for something that big."

"Well, that is quite an ability."

"And now to use it on you."

"I don't think so." Kurotsuchi says and his bankai charges, stretching up to Kirio with blades extending from its chest.

"Then let this be the final strike." Kirio says and flies at the bankai extending both his gloves and before they make contact...

CHIM, CHIM


	12. Water Wind Tag Team

_Chapter 11: Water-Wind Tag Team_

When Kyoraku and Ukitake arrive at the east gate, one of the men Shunpo off.

"Wait right there!" Ukitake shouts at the man but he vanishes before he can do anything.

"Relax Jushiro, two-on-two is a lot better tan two-on-three, don't you think, besides, if you take a feel around you'll notice that guy is heading for Old Man Yama's Barracks. He's a dead man for sure." Kyoraku says matter-of-factly.

"Hee, don't insult the leader of the Twilight Worriers there bub, and certainly don't underestimate us." One intruder says. "I am Shouta, 6th strongest member of the Twilight Worriers."

"And I am Leith, 10th strongest member." The second intruder states.

"Oh look Ukitake, they even have a group name."

"Twilight Worriers, why does that sound like a bad thing to me?" Ukitake ponders.

"Who knows, it's not like you could have heard of us before, no one that has ever fought us has lived to tell the tale, ha ha ha." Shouta remarks.

"May we begin Shouta, you know we don't have all day for this?" Leith asks.

"Right, we should start." Shouta replies as the two of them take out their swords and shunpo in front of the two and slash them but Kyoraku and Ukitake take their swords out and block.

"What's wrong, you're not going to separate us like your friends did to the others?" Kyoraku asks.

"Nah, we work better as a tag team." Leith replies, being the one who attacked him.

"That so," Ukitake begins. "well so do we." Ukitake then jumps back as Kyoraku takes his other blade out catching Shouta's Sword to hold him to allow Ukitake to attack from the side of him but misses as he jumps back and dodges. This then allows Kyoraku to take the blade and slash at Leith but Shouta shunpo's and blocks it making it so they can both move away without injury.

"You are good, but don't count us out just yet." Leith says as him and Shouta charge again slashing the pair of captains who block again but this time Shouta back flips over Leith and Ukitake to try and attack him from behind but Kyoraku shunpo's to block it then they both shunpo away.

"Point taken; Jushiro."

"Right Shunsui; Wave become my shield, Thunder, become my blade: Sogyo no Kotoawai!" Ukitake shouts and his zanpakuto is released into two blades that resemble fishing javelins with a rope tying them together.

"The flower wind rages, the flower god roars, the wind of heaven rages, the god of the underworld sneers: Katen Kyokotsu!" Kyoraku shouts as his zanpakuto is released into two blades as well resembling dao or falchions.

"Ah shikai huh, alright then; cut to ribbons, Tsuinfukako." Shouta says and he releases his zanpakuto which becomes two identical chakrams of green shades.

"Pour over me and flood, Kozuinotsubasa ." Leith releases his zanpakuto which turns into water whips of some sort that fit over his arms are about 10 feet long each.

"Well how's this for convenience? All of our Shikai's forms are double weapons." Kyoraku says.

"So it would seem, but let's not waist time gawking at the fact." Leith says as he Shunpo's above the two throwing down his liquid arms on the two as Ukitake tries to block the attack by stabbing the ground with his zanpakuto making a water barrier around them. As the water arms hit the barrier, it seems to have no affect at all as they slip right by hitting them and slamming them both together. The next thing Kyoraku and Ukitake notice are the chakrams of Shouta coming at them from both sides and Kyoraku react jumping up.

"Busho Koma." he shouts as a small tornado appears around him and Ukitake making the two chakrams swirl around them and then he throws them away in the distance.

"Nice try," Shouta says as he pulls his arms in and the chakrams seem to fallow and get thrown back toward them. This time both of them are able to shunpo and dodge, appearing behind Leith and Shouta.

"Now Shunsui,"

"Right Jushiro," Both of them throw attack toward their opponents together, Kyoraku makes a whirlwind sent in their direction and Ukitake makes small energy rays travel along the sides of the whirlwind so the attacks hit at the same time and surprisingly enough neither Shouta or Leith are able to dodge in time and are blasted by the duo attack.

"Yes," Kyoraku says, "we got them."

"Was it just me, or was that a bit too easy?" Ukitake says.

"Your just paranoid Jushiro." Kyoraku assures him.

"No, he's right, and you should listen to him more often, he's a lot brighter than you." Someone says coming in the direction of the rubble, taking the captains by surprise.

The dust clears and both Shouta and Leith are still alive, but have wounds covering their body.

"Impossible," Kyoraku says.

"Impossible, I told you not to underestimate us in the beginning didn't I?" Shouta remarks.

"So how about we show them our duo strike Shouta?" Leith asks.

"Sounds good," Shouta then steps in front of Leith and lets his chakrams hover next to his hands as they spin rapidly, generating air force.

"Hey, use your duo attack again, this can be the last strike." Leith says

"Sounds good to me." Ukitake says as he and Kyoraku get ready to use their attack again.

"Ready......... NOW!!" Shouta shouts and releases a pair of whirlwinds from his chakrams that collide to make one and Leith throws his water arms into it so it mixes and turns into a Hurricane.

Ukitake and Kyoraku attack with their attack again and right before collision of the four strikes.

CHIM, CHIM


	13. A Ricky Rocky Fight

_Chapter 12: A Ricky-Rocky Fight_

Over at the West gate, Komamura, Byakuya, and Aizen reach it and see three female shinigami waiting there.

"Hee, took you long enough to get here you three. Pretty rude keeping us waiting like that." One says.

"Why would we show etiquette to intruders?" Byakuya replies.

"Got me there, I guess." She admits.

"You going to be alright by yourself?" another one asks the third, a small girl that is behind the other two.

"Don't worry, I didn't get into the Twilight Worriers because I was weak after all." she says then leap's forward landing next to Aizen then Shunpoing off, followed by him.

"Alright then, I got big guy here." she points to Komamura, then shunpo's away followed by him. The girl stops in a wide open space and Draws her zanpakuto, and Komamura does the same.

"So what's with the mask there captain? Not embarrassed by anything are you?" She asks.

"That is none of your concern at the moment." Komamura replies.

"Guess so, well let me introduce myself, Terra, 3rd strongest member of the Twilight Worriers." She bows to him in a sarcastic manner.

"Sajin Komamura, Captain of squad 7." He replies.

"Oh, don't think it's a little crazy, giving your name to an intruder?"

"Not that crazy; you introduced yourself to me, I should return the favor."

"An honorable reply, so how's about we get this started then?"

"Very well," Komamura replies and leaps forward slashing her but she blocks easily.

"Well, quite an arm you have there." Terra says.

"I could say the same to you." Komamura says as Terra pushes back his blade and slashes him but he steps back dodging then making another slash which she jumps to the side to dodge. "Tenken," he shouts and moves his fist toward Terra as a giant fist appears above him down on her who, taken by surprise, is hit only blocking a small amount of the impact and is blown a few yards away.

She gets up, a small amount of blood on her face. "Well, that was a bit surprising, not a regular shikai is it? Well lets look at mine then, Chikyunohari." she says releasing her zanpakuto and a cloud of dust comes up around her, then through it small projectiles come out strait for Komamura who jumps to the side, dodging them. When the dust settles, Terra is holding a blade of needle in her hand along with some throwing needles in her other one.

"Hm, and interesting form you sword takes, it doesn't appear the sword would be very durable." Komamura comments.

"Oh it is, trust me." Terra replies, Shunpoing toward Komamura, appearing a few feet in front of him, and throwing more needles at his shoulder, this time fast enough that he can't dodge, but what's more they go strait through him, and even causing him to stumble a bit then trying to slash him with the sword, but he jumps back dodging.

"Well, those needles certainly aren't lacking in strength, I'll give you that." Komamura says.

They were made of solid rock, not something that will be stopped by simple bone." Terra replies, then Komamura throws down his fist again, making the giant fist come down on Terra again, who this time is able to put her blade up swiftly and block, only being pushed back a few inches, then Komamura retreats the arm then throwing his other palm toward her making another hand appear palm thrusting her but she shunpo's and dodges.

You are a very formidable opponent, to be able to block Tenken's fist so easily." Komamura says.

"You know, you're complimenting me way to much as an enemy, let's just continue." Terra replies.

Fighting between the two struggles on for quite a while and both are breathing heavily, having sustained many wounds during the time.

"I'd say we're pretty evenly matched as is captain." Terra says.

"So it would seem, in which case, we should push to the next level." Komamura replies.

"My thought exactly, Bankai." Terra shouts, once again shrouded by dust.

"Bankai," Komamura says as well, a giant samurai worrier of some sort appearing behind him, in the same stance as him, " Kokujo Tenken Myo'o." He says as the dust clears from Terra, revealing her holding two chakrams constructed from the earth needles.

" Chikyuharihoiru," She says, "Let this be the final attack."

" Yes," Komamura replies and Terra grins, looking at his Bankai's fist, which has needles on it, which Terra placed when she blocked the strike earlier.

The two launch their attacks, the huge sword of Komamura's Bankai being swung and Terra throwing her chakrams at it's fist, where the needles rest, and before they collide to decide who wins...

CHIM, CHIM


	14. The Root of a Flower

_Chapter 13: The Root of a Flower_

"Alright, guess I've got you then." The intruder left at the gate with Byakuya says.

"You're going to wish you didn't have me." Byakuya replies to her.

"Are you sure about that, let me introduce myself: Keade, the fourth strongest member of the Twilight Worriers."

"Fourth strongest you say, how interesting, maybe this will be a challenge." Byakuya replies, then takes out his zanpakuto, and Keade quickly does the same. "And since you told me your name, it is only honorable I do the same: Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of squad 6."

"Alright then, Kuchiki, let's begin." Keade states and jumps forward, slashing Byakuya, who blocks and side steps to strike her from the side, but she shunpo's away. "Not bad there captain, but I wonder how you kido is; Hado #33: Shakkaho." Keade shouts, releasing a ball of red flame toward Byakuya.

"Hado #4: Byakurai," Byakuya shouts, releasing a surge of lightning from his finger tips that clashes with the Shakkaho and they cancel out. "How's that?"

"Not bad, I must admit, but It's not exactly great either."

"You say that even though our Kido matched perfectly?"

"You never know when someone's holding back a bit captain."

"You mean like this," Byakuya says and shunpo's behind Keade and tries to stab her but she turns and barely blocks then shunpo's away.

"Well, trying to beat me with Senka by destroying my soul chain and soul sheath eh, not going to be that easy, especially not against a captain level person." Keade states matter of fact.

"Then perhaps this will work better; scatter, Senbonzakura." Byakuya says, holding his zanpakuto up as it flies into a thousand of small blades that reflect the sunlight and resemble flower petals.

"Sprout, Rutosupaiku," Keade yells as Byakuya's thousand blades circle her and close in, about to slash her from every angle. Her blade vanishes, replaced by vines coming out of her hand guard then circling her and protecting her from them all, leaving no gaps.

"Hm, it would appear you can hide and block, but you don't seem to have much room to attack me like you are." But suddenly Byakuya eats his words as right under him 4 vines come up around him and try to drive into his body, but he shunpo's up and out of the way and he is then followed by his shikai.

"Now what was that about my attacks captain?" Keade taunts as she has her vines go back to just sitting in her hilt.

"Hm, strange how you could make an attack that accurate without seeing me."

"I was always the best at reistu scan abilities, so I don't need to be looking at u in order to make accurate attacks."

"I see, and combined with your zanpakuto's plant like structure you can easily have it burrow underground then come up for sneak attacks."

"That is correct captain, but that's really only half my zanpakuto for you." Keade swings her zanpakuto causing the vines to stretch out toward Byakuya, but he blocks by making his shikai form a barrier between him and the vines.

When Keade pulls her vines back Byakuya sends his shikai flying toward her to attack but she quickly stabs the ground with her zanpakuto then large vines come up between her and Byakuya's attack, blocking, then three large vines come out of the barrier and come at Byakuya from different angles, and pierces his body, though Keade does not seem to react victoriously. Byakuya suddenly vanishes from where is was attacked, leaving and empty hoari behind then appears behind Keade releasing a Byakurai kido at her. Keade reacts by ripping the part of her vines above ground connected to her hilt from the rest of the plant, hitting the Byakurai and canceling it, and the thorns across the vines glow dimly. At this instant the vines left behind wilt away into dust leaving Byakuya's shikai open for attack, but as it approaches her she turns pointing her vines at the field of small blades and releases what appears to be Byakuya's previous Byakurai through it then jumps through the opening before it closes leaving her unscratched.

"Did you," Byakuya starts, "absorb my kido into your zanpakuto?"

"Exactly, I am quite skilled with kido, so my zanpakuto is able to absorb and re-fire an reistu based attack, such as kido, equal to or weaker than my own back at my opponent, which can easily catch them off guard, you just got lucky with the fact I had to waste the backfire on your shikai to avoid harm."

"I take it that's why you wanted to test my kido earlier, to see if your zanpakuto would be able to absorb my kido attacks."

"Precisely captain, your catching on. But now you've seen pretty much all my shikai can do."

"As you have mine," Byakuya replies.

"Hee, that's not saying much though," Keade sneers.

"Neither is this, but it's worth much more," Byakuya has his zanpakuto revert to sealed and points the blade at the ground, then drops it. "Bankai," He says as his zanpakuto vanishes and 100 swords appear in line on both sides of him and shatter into thousands on thousands of small blades that resemble flower petals that circle him, "Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." The millions of flower petal blades flow to attack Keade, who Shunpo's back to keep away.

"Well then, this is your bankai? it's just a mega-version of you shikai, nothing special, but it does make it harder to dodge. so I guess I'll show you my bankai now, and you might be able to guess what it looks like, if you think about it a little." Byakuya wide-eyes at understanding what she means, "Bankai," She yells as she stabs her zanpakuto into the ground and letting go of the hilt. In a matter of moments vines of Keade's zanpakuto sprout out of the ground everywhere and forming a dome around both of them made completely out of vines leaving various gaps to let in a soft light, "Rutosupaikushoheki."

Byakuya looks around at the field surrounding bankai, and knows that getting what of his own bankai was left on the outside would prove useless because she could easily close the gaps they try to enter from, so he would have to make due with what small fraction he had on the inside.

"At first glance I also conceive your bankai to be an enlarged version of your shikai, but I am not so ignorant as to actually believe that." Byakuya says, also making Keade curious as to the fact he must mean there is more to his bankai then first meets the eye.

"Good of you to notice, and since there's no way for you to avoid my Bankai's added ability, there is no reason for me to hide it." Keade replies, making Byakuya wonder what this ability could be, that it is impossible to dodge. "Well, it's really an extension of one of my Shikai's abilities, remember how it could absorb any reistu based attacks other than my own or those stronger than my own, well anyone besides me who is caught inside this field will constantly have their very reistu drained from their bodies, but ever so slowly; so in other words, the longer this battle goes on the weaker and easier to defeat you will become."

"Then let us finish this battle here and now." Byakuya says.

"Oh, your in such a hurry to die you'd rather have it done now then later when you would have an excuse to have lost."

"No, but if I were, to lose this battle, I would rather have lost because my opponent was truly stronger than I, rather then being forced down into a weak summit and losing to a cheap trick such as this." Byakuya says and his reistu grows drastically, and suddenly despite all odds his bankai on the outside of Keade's cuts through and surrounds him, then compressing into one single blade, and he is then white wings appear on his back and a white ring surrounds him. "Shukei Hakuteiken,"

Keade then responds to this by having some of her bankai sprouting up and shaping into the form of two simple swords in her hands. "Fine then, you want to end this, let's do it!" She yells to him and they both charge at each other and swing their swords at each other; but before they clash for their final strike...

CHIM, CHIM


	15. The Tricksters Battle

_Chapter 14:The Tricksters Battle  
_

Aizen and the intruder stop in a generally large area and draw their blades. Aizen makes the first move and slashes down on the intruder who blocks the strike but steps back and makes a small shriek. Aizen, having expecting more than what he just witnessed struck again, and a similar reaction comes from her.

"What is your name intruder?" Aizen asks the girl.

"Aura, the 5th strongest member of the Twilight Worriers."

Aizen seems astonished by her rank of 13 and asks, "if you really are the fifth strongest of your group, then I'm either guessing you're very timid, or you all are a lot weaker than we originally thought, which means the one heading for the Head Captains office is walking into a death trap."

These last word seemed to have sparked something inside Aura, for she then made an attack, which Aizen blocks just barely. "Don't, insult our leader." She states, her tone changing into a much more menacing sound.

"Uh, it would appear the ladder is not correct judgment, but rather you are timid, but are set off into anger if anyone is to insult your leader, in which case you must care very deeply about him. Are you willing to give your life for him?" Aizen asks Aura.

"Yes," She replies proudly.

"This care for him will lead you to your death." This statement from Aizen is answered by Aura lunging for another attack, which he blocks easily and makes a return slash, which Aura blocks, still flinching like before, and stepping back.

"But even now I must question the true strength of your leader I'm afraid."

"I thought I told you already," Aura replies, her tone even more menacing as she Shunpo's behind Aizen and delivers three swift strikes each one blocked but making slight contact with Aizen. "Not to insult our leader, your arrogance will be what leads _you_ to death."

Aura begins to fight stronger and make small wounds upon Aizen ever now and then, While Aizen cannot seem to land hits.

"It would appear I was wrong about you." Aizen says, "I suppose I'll have to use this then; Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu." Aizen releases his zanpakuto and the field is filled with mist and the next thing Aura knows, instead of Aizen, she sees a reflected image of her in every direction.

Aura gets defensive, wondering what kind of ability this could be when the next thing she knows, Aizen appears from the mist and slashes her shoulder, leaving no room for her to react before hand. Then the same thing happens again, and she is struck in the back, not even realizing Aizen had been there at all.

_"What is this?"_ Aura wonders, _"Some kind of reistu suppressing mist that show reflections to throw me off guard while he just takes easy pickings on me; No that's not it, but whatever the case may be..."_

"Trace all, Oranoha," Aura shouts as her zanpakuto glows brightly, then dims and the glow surrounds her own body, but does nothing to the surrounding mist.

Once this process is complete Aizen makes another strike, cutting Aura's arm, but after flinching from the pain, she grins and waits. Aura waits and then, twists and moves right of her position and sees a small clip of her hair sever, for she managed to dodge Aizen's sword through his zanpakuto's deep fog. She waits again, and in the next few moment she ducks and sticks her leg out spinning but feeling nothing as she comes full circle, but grins wider all the same. Even more she continues to wait for something, and Aizen is painfully unaware how, but waiting for him to strike again, even though she has no way to visualize him. After a brief wonder, Aizen tries to attack again, more swiftly this time and before even beginning a slash, Aura stabs the ground with her zanpakuto and maneuvers toward him thrusting her palm into what she sees and feels as empty space but moves her arms to her sides then Shunpo's back.

"Everything's set," Aura says and picks up her sword, and instead of waiting again she plunges herself in a direction and slashes what she can merely perceive as empty space with any of her senses, but Aizen knows she has somehow identified where he is despite his zanpakuto and manages to land a hit on his shoulder which she then grin's and Shunpo's back as Aizen tries to make a counter move.

At this time Aizen has the fog around Aura fade and show's himself to her. "How is it that without perception of anything in my Kyoka Suigetsu mist, you manage to understand where I am?" Aizen asks.

"If I were to told you, it would only benefit you wouldn't it," Aura turns pointing her blade in the opposite direction of Aizen. "Right Captain?" At this time the image of Aizen behind her now fades and right in front of her blade Aizen reappears, looking grimly at her with his blade pointed strait at her heart.

The two Stare at each other with the same expression on their face of combined rage and confusion; then both jump back from each other and end about 20 ft apart.

"So what is your zanpakuto exactly anyways, it can't really be a dumb tricked out mist; is it some kind of freak illusion u deploy into your opponents brains with the release of your zanpakuto?" Aura asks.

"Why would I tell you the trick behind my ability if you won't tell me yours?"

"Fair enough, well what's say we end this right now Captain?"

"Gladly," Aizen replies and the two of stare at each other for one last minute before charging at each other and slashing their sword, which actually slide past each other and go for kill shots. But just as this happens.

CHIM, CHIM

A chime has sounded throughout Seretei, and 11 beams of reistu in several area's explodes in a furious frenzy at the same time.


	16. Retreat! the Truth Behind the Intruders

_Chapter 15:Retreat! The Truth Behind the Intruders_

Inside Head Captain Yamamoto's office, which has been torn apart due to struggle, Yamamoto stands with his zanpakuto Ryujin Jakka released, facing two men who are breathing heavily from the match thus far, one holding a zanpakuto released with many twisting blades of all shapes and sizes. The other man is holding two blades, one is pure white in the shape of a tiger, and the other is pitch black in the shape of a lion, both giving off a strange heat.

The man with two blades speaks first, "Not bad, just what I'd expect from the Head Captain Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads."

"But I wonder how many of the captains are still breathing out there Leader." The second man says, looking out of a window.

"Well how about we find out Seiko?" The first man asks rhetorically and puts on blade into the floor and pulls out a sort of bell. "One ring from this and we'll know the answer." He shift his hand and a chime sounds throughout Seretei, and 11 beams of reistu in several area's explodes in a furious frenzy at the same time, The two intruders looking out the window at each of them.

These Beams of Reistu come from each one of the Twilight Worrier doing battle with the captain, having immediately released their true power they kept back until now at the sound of the chime.

"NOW!" They shout at each other in unison and launch their attacks on each other and 4 of Rin's spikes are caught by Histugaya's pillars and right before the attacks make contact with the other the chime sounds and Rin's reistu maximizes and the spike heading for Histugaya shatters and he is astonished at what he sees before him. Rin has ended his Bankai, and reverted into the zanpakuto's sealed form, then shattered his pillars, into shards, his head down.

The light from the hole vanishes and though nothing seems to happen Hikaru raises his blade twisting it and a lightning bolt from above him zapping through Tosen's Bankai and allowing him to see for a short range.

"Nice job with this Bankai, it's so fragile." Suddenly many more bolts of lightning are shot through in random areas of the Bankai until he sees Tosen in one of the accruing lights. "There." He shoots lightning from his zanpakuto toward Tosen to finish the fight and before it hits Tosen the chime sounds and the Lightning bolt above Tosen splits avoiding him but completely collapsing Tosen's Bankai, who then sees the thunder cloud above where it was, that then fades away, Hikaru sealing his zanpakuto, grinning.

"Sounds good to me," Ken holds his Bankai up as well and they stand still for a few moments then simultaneously jump at each other and right before their blades make contact with each other the chime sounds and Ken shift his blade in such a way that Kenpachi is blasted backward, with no injury done to his body, and hanging his head.

"Well, handy skills you have there, so what do you say we end this already?" Akane raises her reistu and several small blades appear on the edge of her scythe.

"Sounds good to me," The two charge at each other ready for a final blow as the chime sounds and Akane moves her scythe to block Soi Fon's attack and releases a wave of reistu that not only knocks her back, but somehow end's her Shunko then Akane seals her zanpakuto, her face down.

"Let me guess; now it goes from illusion to something much stronger, right?"

"Death serum."

The two size each other up one last time and Xun shoots as Gin extends his blade and right before kill hits the chime sounds and Xun moves his arm sealing his zanpakuto and hitting Gin's blade up and away from him, his bullet evaporating right in front of Gin's face, Xun's head down.

"I don't think so." Kurotsuchi says and his bankai charges, stretching up to Kirio with blades extending from its chest.

"Then let this be the final strike." Kirio says and flies at the bankai extending both his gloves and before they make contact the chime sound and Kirio grabs one of Kurotsuchi's Bankai's blades and slide down then jump onto it's back releasing so much reistu the Bankai blows up and reverts to sealed as Kirio does with his bankai landing on the ground with his back turned.

"Ready......... NOW!!" Shouta shouts and releases a pair of whirlwinds from his chakrams that collide to make one and Leith throws his water arms into it so it mixes and turns into a Hurricane.

Ukitake and Kyoraku attack with their attack again and right before collision of the four strikes the chime sounds both Shouta's and Leith's attack's explode and cause Kyoraku's and Ukitake's attacks to end there, while Shouta's and Leith's head are down.

The two launch their attacks, the huge sword of Komamura's Bankai being swung and Terra throwing her chakrams at it's fist, where the needles rest, and before they collide to decide who wins when the chime sounds and the Chakrams break the hand of Komamura's Bankai then turn and swing back to Terra, who has her head down.

Keade then responds to this by having some of her bankai sprouting up and shaping into the form of two simple swords in her hands. "Fine then, you want to end this, let's do it!" She yells to him and they both charge at each other and swing their swords at each other; but before they clash for their final strike the chime sounds and a wall of the vines comes between them and blocks both strikes then Keade seals her zanpakuto her face down.

"Gladly," Aizen replies and the two of stare at each other for one last minute before charging at each other and slashing their sword, which actually slide past each other and go for kill shots. But just as this happens the chime sounds and both blade are stopped and aura is shining on the tip of Aizen's blade now connected to the aura on Aura's blade, which is what halted them then she jumps back and the aura on Aizen shines then fades, which let's Aizen know how she managed to fight him without seeing him as Aura seals her zanpakuto, her head down.

Back at Yamamoto's office, the first man puts the bell away and picks up his sword and both of them seal their zanpakuto's and the first man's blades stay as two swords.

"Congratulations Head Captain, it appears all of your captains managed to survive. Now I must bid you ado." He says as he and Seiko jump out the window and shunpo away and out of Seretei, soon joined by the other 11 members of the Twilight Worriers, having left their opponents either in complete rage or pure confusion. within 15 minutes, they had actually left the whole Soul Society. And each Captain had seen the same last thing when their opponents fled; the lifting of their heads and not seeing their faces, but white masks. And these masks were just like those of hallow.


	17. The Twilight Warriors Pasts

_Chapter 16: The Twilight Warriors Pasts_

The Twilight Warriors, after traveling for about an hour, stop in a wide open plain.

"I must say," The leader says, pulling out some sort of orb, "I can't believe all the captains made it out alive, looks like Seretei will be just fine for a while." The orb glows then expands to engulf all thirteen of them then shrink and vanishes, along with them.

The thirteen Shinigami appear in a place that looks somewhat similar to Seretei, but is completely empty except for them and it is much smaller, no more than the size of a town, and looked as though it was a blacksmith's shop all over.

"Alright, let's get to the HQ and get everyone healed up." Keade spoke first.

Keade looked around and remembered when she joined the Royal Guard: "_So, you are the Soul King of Seretei, I am honored, but, a little surprised that you chose me to be in your Royal Guard; after all I'm just the healing captain of Squad 4, My zanpakuto wasn't really meant for combat."_

_ "I chose you because every army needs a nurse, also, your Kidou is quite exceptional. Besides, once I infuse you with my reiatsu, who knows what your zanpakuto will turn into. Oh, and from now on, it's not 'Soul King' call me Ronnin."_

When the Twilight Warriors, or Royal Guard, reached the HQ, Keade pulled out her zanpakuto and released it's shikai, which then surrounds them all and released a healing serum from it's thorns. While this happened, Aura thinks about when she joined.

_Breaths heavily, "I can't imagine how you did this Ms. Iyashu."_

_ "First off, I told you to call me Keade, got it, as for this transition, it was hard on me too. It might be a bit more so on you because your so timid, you're a strong girl with a lot of potential, you just need to work hard, alright, Aura Seishin?"_

After the treatment, the thirteen wander around on their own. While on a walk together, Terra and Seiko think about the captains from Seretei.

"How'd it feel fighting along-side Ronnin, Seiko?" Terra asked.

"It was quite a thrill, to be honest Terra. To know I was fighting right next to the strongest Soul Reaper to ever live." Seiko replied.

Terra laughed. "I think I remember you saying something kind of similar the first day we arrived here."

_"Man, to know I'm really face-to-face with the Soul King right now." Seiko said, as he and Terra were speaking with Ronnin. "This is the best day of my life."_

_ "I know what you mean Seiko, this feeling that we were actually good enough to get into the Royal Guard, it's amazing." Terra commented._

_ "I'm glad to see you both like it here," Ronnin said. "And please call me Ronnin."_

_ "Right," Seiko said. "But man, I just can't get over this sensation! I feel like I'll be able to do anything while I'm here with you."_

_ "Same here," Terra agreed. "If I'm with you Ronnin, I feel like I'll be unstoppable."_

_ Ronnin laughed at this. "Maybe you should try saying that after you've surpassed everyone else in the Royal Guard, twins."_

"Thing is," Rin starts, speaking with Hikaru. "I think I would have released more of my power at that moment anyways, it really was a challenge when I was only using the power I had before I joined the Royal Guard."

"Hee, Hee, Man the guy I fought was a piece of cake, nowhere near my captain level, he would have died if Ronnin didn't ring that dang chime when he did, it was almost too late then even."

"You had it easy Hikaru, the only reason you did release your hallow mask and full power was because he would have died if you hadn't, and then Ronnin would have killed you."

"Hee, I still remember the first day I got here."

_ "Wow it's awesome here, so this place is really my home now?"_

_ "Yes, it's as much yours as anyone else's, feel free to use anything you like."_

_ "Yo, Ronnin, I got your tea." Rin says as he walks in the door._

_ "Hm," Hikaru looks over at the boy bringing in 3 drinks. "HUH, Captain! Captain Rin Shimo, is that you?"_

_ "Hm, who are-" Rin starts then gasps, "Hikaru Boruto!"_

_ "That's right, quite a surprise to see your old vice-captain here huh Rin?"_

_ "I'll say, is that the whole reason you asked me to come meet the new member?"_

_ "That's right, I thought it would be a nice reunion."_

_ "I thought you got moved to Central 46 not the Royal Guard, but it's great to see you again captain."_

_ "Hey," Rin shouts at Hikaru, "I'm not your captain anymore, call me Rin from now on."_

Ken stayed with Ronnin to drink some Sake.

"Thanks for listening to me Ronnin, you know I would have fallowed protocol if I could have."

"Yea well don't blame yourself for being weak either, you and I both know your opponent wasn't someone to be taken lightly. You were a bit like him when you first joined though remember?"

_"So Ken Dengen, what do think of your new home?"_

_ "Yea, nice, now where's your training area? Or better yet tell me where I can find the other members so I can show how strong a naturally Twilight elemental zanpakuto is compared to their cheap knock offs of yours."_

_ "Alright calm down, but do remember that they ARE knock offs of MINE, knock offs or not, their very powerful now, also they did have/"_

_ "Yea, yea, a slight and dormant Twilight element already just where are they?"_

_ "I don't know, I'm not keeping up with any of their schedules."_

_ "Then I guess I'll just go hunt them down myself."_

Leith and Shouta were doing some sync-combat training.

"Yea, just like that Leith."

"Don't fall behind now Shouta."

"Hee as if, I'm not going to get lectured by someone below my rank."

"Don't take me lightly, I've shone more improvement since our joining then you have."

"I'm still stronger than you though."

"_Kind of hard to believe we got promoted to the Royal Guard at the same time huh Shouta."_

_ "It wouldn't have worked out though, according to Ronnin, if either of us hadn't had a dormant Twilight element in us. He says our transition with his reiatsu is only possible with it."_

_ "Yea, and that transition was the hardest thing I've ever gone through."_

_ "He did say that was the price to pay for getting in here."_

_ "But it was our honor to do anything for the Soul King."_

_ "Hey remember he told us not to call him that."_

_ "Oh right, forgot for a moment."_

_ "Good evening, Shouta Dageki, Leith Furo, how are you two doing."_

_ "Tch, Dang it Ronnin, it's creepy how you do that all the time you know."_

_ "Ha, ha, ha, well I did need to tell you that you have your ranking ceremony tomorrow since you've both finally finished the transition."_

_ "What, so soon."_

_ "Afraid so, and dinner will be ready in 15 minutes too."_

Akane went and found herself a high cliff to meditate at.

"Ah, I always fell great up here when I meditate and train my blood flow. It reminds me of how my transition really affected me."

_"Come on Akane Shinku, don't lose your focus."_

_ "I don't fell well Xun, I think this is where I'm going to be ranked." She says panting._

_ "It's more of your zanpakuto," Ronnin says, watching the battle. "Your zanpakuto's power has a direct link with your body and blood after the transition was complete, the more you use it's abilities, the more it affects your blood and, more importantly, your health."_

_ "So your saying that the longer I battle the more internally injured I am?"_

_ "Exactly, so doing 3 battles in a row isn't good for you at all, we're going to have to pace your ranking, so from now on we'll do one battle a day, and be sure that you constantly train your blood flow, the more control you have over it, the easier and longer you will be able to wield your zanpakuto."_

Xun found himself in the simulation room doing target practice with his shikai.

"These simulations really are getting to easy for me, maybe I can get some sort of upgrade to them if I talk to Ronnin."

_"Well Xun Dotto, with how your zanpakuto changed after your transition, I made this special target practice room for your personal use."_

_ "Really, just for me?"_

_ "That's right, your going to need it, just because your zanpakuto is a gun, doesn't mean your going to have pin-point accuracy, you need to train like any other gunman."_

_ "I understand Ronnin, I will do my best to improve, that way I can protect the Soul Society while at your side."_

_ "I can't wait,"_

The Royal Guards, all of whom have a background as a former captain, now serve directly under the Soul King of Seretei, Ronnin Jogi.


	18. The First Suspect

_Chapter 17: The First Suspect_

"Alright then, that's good for now," Ronnin says. "Meet back here at four for the afternoon training."

Ronnin walks away leaving his Guard at the training site all of them Panting and some the ground.

"Dang it, How does he do it," Xun says getting up and sheathing his sword. "It's twelve on one all in Shikai and he doesn't even break a sweat."

"I have it the worst you know, I'm the one physically enable to fight for long periods of time." Akane remarks resting against a wall.

"That's the whole point of this training, fighting a much stronger opponent to increase our strength and our teamwork." Terra says.

"Honestly, who would be dumb enough to want to take on Ronnin, let alone strong enough to get past us." Shouta says.

"That also raises the question why he bothered making the Royal Guard in the first place? He's plenty strong and only one trustworthy person even knows where the Oken is, and what are the chances someone will actually go and make one." Aura replies.

"Idiot, he made the Royal Guard because he needed too, for Seretei's and his own sake." Keade replies.

"Yea, he needs to get stronger in case the one person that strong and dumb does come along. Ken says.

"Yea, you were there when he told us about him." Rin says.

"Not that any of us, even Ronnin himself, could identify him, none of us know what he looks like now, his reistu patterns, or even what his zanpakuto is, far as we know he doesn't even know it's name." Leith says.

"I'm sure he knows his zanpakuto's name, and it's probably something really, really scary and destructive." Hikaru says.

"Or something sneaky and swift." Kirio cut's in.

"Well, what point is making guesses? just because he's good, doesn't mean his zanpakuto is at all similar to Ronnin's, it could be one of the least impressive looking zanpakuto's in the world or be cooler than Ronnin's. But we're just going to have to be prepared for anything, and not take him lightly." Seiko says, finishing the conversation as he walks off.

Ken run's off and finds Ronnin. "Hey Ronnin," he says catching up to him.

"Ah Ken, what is it?" Ronnin asks.

"I was just wondering about something, how come I didn't go through the same transition as everyone else?"

"We've been over that topic before, you had a completely Twilight based zanpakuto to begin with, so it wasn't necessary."

"I know, but It also means that I'm not as strong as the others. If I did go through the transition, my power and rank would increase dramatically."

"Unfortunately that isn't an option, with the others, my twilight energy helped awaken theirs which was necessary for the transition. However my energy trying to be fused with your fully awakened energy would have a really bad effect, it wouldn't work like the others, it would be extremely harmful to you." Ronnin explains.

"So your saying it would be a disease and my body would fight it until I fell apart."

"Exactly, so in hindsight, it's not that it's not necessary,"

"But that it's not possible."

Ken sighs and leaves after this and Ronnin goes to the HQ of this place, then goes into a kitchen and puts on some tea for him, but he also puts on a second cup for the approaching reistu he feels. In a few minutes there's a knock on the door.

"Come in Aura." He says recognizing her reistu.

Aura walks in. "Um Ronnin, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure, I already put on some tea." Ronnin replies and takes the two cups to a small table in the middle of the room and they both take their seats. "So what's on your mind."

"Well," She starts, "It's about my opponent during our invasion, Aizen."

Ronnin takes a sip of his tea then replies. "Something odd about him?"

"Yes, it was his zanpakuto and the way he fought. The name of his zanpakuto I believe was, Kyoka Suigetsu, he released it with the word shatter."

"What does it do?"

"That's what's hard, I'm not exactly sure what it does. At first glance, one would be led to believe it is a mist that clouds the opponents sight and reistu indicators."

"But,"

"But their was something off about it, To even a regular captain they would think nothing of it, but we are not so ignorant, I could not sense Aizen what-so-ever by normal means. However I could feel every single other reistu in Seretei just as easily as before."

"I see,"

"So this leads me to believe there is more to his zanpakuto's ability then their seems." She concludes. "Then there was just the way he attacked and fought all together."

"What about it?"

"He didn't seem to be fighting as a captain to stop an intruder, a threat to the peace in Seretei. But rather like..."

"like,"

"I'm not sure how to phrase it, it was more like he was using some sort of hidden tactic to deceive and manipulate me, rather than strike me down."

"I see," Ronnin says leaning back, thinking about it. "What conclusion have you drawn from this?" He asks, but already knows what's coming.

"I think he might be the one we are here for. And if that's the case, we aren't anywhere near ready to face him."

"You got away fine." Ronnin remarks.

"Yes, I know Ronnin, but he's playing the role of a regular captain, he wouldn't be using much more power than we were using during the mission."

"You have a point there, we'll, we'll have to keep this Aizen under close surveillance." He says then waves his arm in front of him and a screen appear there, monitors in Seretei.

"When did you," Aura starts.

"While I was fighting of course, I set up plenty all around Seretei with my reistu. this way is much easier than having someone constantly go back and forth don't you think?"

"Yea, I guess so." Aura agrees, drinking the rest of her tea and leaving.

"Oh Aura," Ronnin stops her on her out the door. "Let's not tell the others about this until I've got more proof."

"Right, Ronnin." Aura says and leaves, closing the door behind her.


	19. Training Intesifies

_Chapter 18: Training Intensifies_

After what Aura told him about Aizen, Ronnin decided to use the new reistu camera's he installed in Seretei while they were they to keep a close watch on him. For the most part, he seemed to act like a regular captain, but Ronnin realized that of all the other captains, Sosuke Aizen hung out with Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen most. He had only been observing Aizen for about 2 weeks, but had realized some troubling facts.

First off, he had no particular schedule that he went through everyday, his actions seemed more random. Second off, his relation with Hinamori Momo, his Lieutenant, was questionable. Hinamori had idolized Aizen, but Aizen did not appear to notice the obsession, or ignored it for some reason. Most troubling is that many years prier, during his own time as a Lieutenant, his captain, along with several others of Captain and Lieutenant class, had vanished all in one night. He might have known what caused it if he had someone on duty watching Seretei that night, But that night was special, and prevented him from going there.

That night was actually a special day on the Royal Guard calendar. It is the day when twilight element is enhanced greatly for anyone who possess it, however this much power makes travel to and from Seretei completely impossible, and actually continues till mid-day the fallowing day. What is more, he knew that each person who vanished that day had faint twilight elements in them, and that Kisuke Urahara, along with Tessai Tsukabishi, had been charged with something that in some way involved the vanished men, and sent to the human world as punishment.

These fact all made him want to intensify his Royal Guards training; and that is exactly what he did.

When they all met for training in the afternoon, he began by announcing this change.

OK everyone, starting today, training is going to be a little harder. Normally we would all release into Shikai and nothing more, but today I want us all to equip our masks, and see how much you grow in power when using them. Now release." Ronnin says and one by one they all enter shikai.

"Steal and Expunge, Penaruti!" Kirio releases her Shikai.

"Strike back, Zen'nonoha!" Ken shouts.

"Shoot and kill, Junoha." Xun releases.

"Pour over me and flood, Kozuinotsubasa." Leith says.

"Sting and slash, Dokukama!" Akane yells.

"Glide over frozen seas, Burufenikkusume!" Rin screams.

"Split in fury, Kaminarinoshogeki." Hikaru shouts.

"Cut to ribbons, Tsuinfukako." Shouta says.

"Trace all, Oranoha." Aura speaks calmly.

"Sprout, Rutosupaiku." Keade declares.

"Crush, Chikyunohari!" Terra storms.

Now it was Seiko's turn to release his zanpakuto. "Tangle, Haganetoge." And his zanpakuto is released into the multi-blade Shikai he had used against Yamamoto.

And Finally, Ronnin went. "Shine and Destroy, Hikarihanshu." Ronnin proclaims and the blade in his left hand morphs into a white, tiger shaped blade. But he wasn't done, for Ronnin had a second blade in his right hand. "Shade and protect, Kuraihanshu." He proclaims a second name and the blade in his right hand becomes a black, lion shaped blade.

This was the truth behind Ronnin. He had been blessed with an incredible gift, he had _TWO _separate zanpakuto's. Hikarihanshu, the zanpakuto of light and absolute power. And Kuraihanshu, the zanpakuto of darkness and absolute protection.

"_Hallow Resurrection!_" All thirteen of them shout together and pull their hands over their faces, setting hallow masks upon their faces.

And then the twelve subordinates jumped over the leader, and attacked him.

The first to strike was Leith and Shouta, who shunpo onto opposite sides of Ronnin. Leith throws his water arms at him and Shouta spins his chakram and sends a ripple of wind at him. Ronnin watches both of these attacks approach him, then once they get close, he points Hikarihanshu at Leith's attack.

"_Burn, Hikarihanshu." _He says and a white beam of solidified light comes out of it's tip shooting into the center of the water strike. "_Guard, Kuraihanshu._" He says and a black barrier appears between him and the wind of Shouta's zanpakuto.

The beam of light rips through the water and explodes in between, stopping the attack and the black shield completely stops the wind from getting any closer; or would normally. This time the wind goes around his shield and, much to Ronnin's surprise, rounds back at him. To protect himself he slammed Hikarihanshu onto the ground, causing an explosion of light which obstructed the wind attack and made it unable to continue.

Ronnin jumped out of the smoke and looked at his guard, and saw Xun start shooting bullets and Terra was throwing her earth needles. Ronnin put his black shield up to deflect them all, but then while he couldn't see them Ken shunpo's behind him and slashes him with his swift, thin blade, and Ronnin blocked with Hikarihanshu.

"Nothing left to block with now." Ken exclaims as he swings his large, broad sword around to strike him.

But then Ronnin brings Kuraihanshu around, the black shield not coming with it, and blocks it. Ken was taken by surprise because normally he wouldn't be able to keep the shield up if he moved Kuraihanshu from its placement. Ronnin pushes off against the black shield and pushes Ken back, then jumps over him as the black shield begins to crumble away.

"Uh, Xun, stop." Terra shouts and Xun doesn't argue, cause he then sees that if they had continued they would have hit Ken rather than Ronnin.

Ronnin noticed something and Shunpoed away, which was almost directly fallowed by lightning striking the area he had just been from two directions, and it had started from Hikaru's blade, gone strait, then split in two to go around Ken and curve back toward Ronnin.

Ronnin reappeared behind Hikaru, ready to slash him with Hikarihanshu. But then Rin came from the side and released his ice phoenix attack from his blade. Everyone even close to it's range Shunpoed out of the way Then reappear in different places, around the field as the ice phoenix hit a wall.

Ronnin shoot a white beam toward Rin, to return the favor, but Keade jumped in between and absorbed the attack with her zanpakuto, the light attack being reistu based. She actually got lucky, if Ronnin was using any more power behind that attack, she wouldn't have been able too. She threw it out back at him, and he used Kuraihanshu to block it then Kirio appears behind him by shunpo and swings one of her gauntlets at him, but Ronnin ducks then shunpo's to the side.

Once he shunpo's, he is met by Aura and Akane swinging their zanpakuto together from both sides of Ronnin, who brings up both his blades to just barely stop both attacks, then uses Kuraihanshu's power to make a large black bubble around him as Hikaru's lightning bolt shoots down from above, but is blocked by the shield.

"Alright guys." Ronnin says from inside the bubble as it fades away. "I just wanted to see how much you improve with the masks on for a moment, and I must say, it was better than I expected, some of you really almost hit me that time, tomorrow we do the same thing, only it will be a regular length practice. enjoy the rest of the day, and meet here at 8 AM."


	20. Captains MeetingThe Truth Behind it All

_Chapter 19: The Post-Invasion Captain's Meeting_

When the mysterious invaders suddenly powered up, releasing tons on tons of Reiatsu they had locked up during the battle, all of the captains thought they were done for. They were taken by surprise at the hallow masks and fleeing. But despite how confused they were, they couldn't have been more relieved to have them gone; for now anyways.

Captain Unohana, in presence of this dire situation, knew the captains had to be healed as quickly as physically possible. She used her zanpakuto, Minazuki, to speed the healing process and had many higher ranked squad four members drop anything else they were doing to make sure they were put back in commission as fast as they could.

Even with all the extra help, it took a full month for all the captains wounds to heal. After they had recovered, they were to report a report on their opponents, to try and figure out more about their group as a whole. A week after all the captains had recovered, Head Captain Yamamoto had called a captain's meeting about what he had learned.

"This is quite disturbing, to say the least." Yamamoto began. "First and foremost, from the descriptions of their zanpakuto's and their group name, it is obvious that each and everyone of these intruders had the Twilight element in their zanpakuto's."

Captain's Histugaya, Kyoraku, Ukitake, Unohana and Soi Fon all looked shocked. But the others didn't quite understand it's meaning.

"What exactly does that mean, Head Captain?" Kurotsuchi was the one who posed the question.

"I'm surprised you aren't aware of it Captain Kurotsuchi, with your position." Kyoraku spoke.

"As you know, each zanpakuto's powers, form, and attributes differ depending on their wielded." Ukitake began.

"Throughout history, their have been hundreds of zanpakuto's with earth, ice, fire, wind, water, and lightning." Histugaya continued. "And then, even though the number is significantly lower, many that had a light or dark attribute."

"However, the Twilight element is an extremely powerful and dreadfully frightening attribute an extremely few Shinigami are blessed with. It is so rare in a zanpakuto to show up that some say only one Twilight wielder is born every 10 millenniums." Unohana added.

"Throughout Seretei's entire history, only one Shinigami has come to our ranks with a Twilight element zanpakuto." Soi Fon concluded.

"But as we have recently witnessed, each and every one of the 13 intruders had the Twilight element, this is something that your research would proclaim impossible." Yamamoto said.

"Which poses the question: Where could they all have come from?" Gin said.

"Actually," It was Kenpachi who spoke. "The thirteen of them being Twilight users is a bit of a false statement."

"What does that mean, Kenpachi?" Komamura pondered.

"When my opponent, Ken, had released his zanpakuto, he had proclaimed that, besides their leader, it was the only other naturally Twilight element zanpakuto in their group."

"Natural element of Twilight, you mean all the others had forged Twilight elements?" Tosen asks.

"Close, but not quite. You see, Ken was only the 12th strongest member of their group, but when I came to his group of 3, he had proudly proclaimed he was the strongest of them."

"But my opponent was the 8th strongest." Histugaya said.

"And mine the 7th." Tosen said.

"Yes, but he told me that all the other members, because they were not naturally Twilight element, had their leaders reiatsu injected into them so their zanpakuto's would morph to one."

"You mean the forms which their zanpakuto's took before us were not their original appearance?" Byakuya clarified.

"That's what it looks like. And this is why he told me that of those three, he was the strongest, because he was the only one of them who hadn't been injected with the leaders reiatsu."

"And if none of them had been, he would be the strongest of them." Aizen concluded.

"Precisely," Kenpachi replied.

"If I may," Kurotsuchi began, speaking to the Head Captain. "Where is the Twilight user you spoke of earlier that was in our ranks now?"

"Are you suggesting that he turned traitor and joined these men?" Yamamoto began. "No, that's impossible, The Twilight user, about 5 years after becoming captain of squad 11 800 years ago, he was promoted into the Royal Guard."

There was a long silence when Yamamoto said this.

It was Byakuya who broke the silence. "That still leaves the mystery of the masks they bore at the end of our battles."

"That's right, what were those anyways?" Histugaya asked.

"They looked just like a hollow's." Komamura commented.

"Indeed, and we know a bit of that." Yamamoto said.

"Yes, about 60 years ago, there was an incident involving many Captain and Lieutenant ranked Shinigami that turned them into a sort of half-bred." Ukitake explained.

"My own Captain then was also involved." Aizen said.

"As was my old Lieutenant." Kyoraku added.

"Former Captains of squad 3, 7, 9, and Lieutenants of squad 12, 9, as well as a Kido Corps expert were also involved." Unohana added.

"The perpetrator was believed to be my former captain, as well as the man who got me out of the Maggot's Next, Kisuke Urahara." Kurotsuchi said.

"We had decided to banish Urahara to the human world, along with Kido Corps leader Tessai Tsukabishi, who is believed to have assisted him in the work, and kill those he had altered in his experiments." Yamamoto said.

"But before that happened," Soi Fon cut in. "Yoruichi Shihoin took the perpetrators and sentenced, then fled to the human world."

"Is it possible that what happened is possible for every Shinigami?" Kyoraku wondered.

"We will have to believe that for the time being." Yamamoto replied. "And, for the sake of Seretei, hope they don't return any time soon."

"I'm not sure if their reasons for coming and attacking us are as we think." Soi Fon interrupted."

"Oh, why is that?" Gin asked.

"My opponent, Akane, had a poison zanpakuto like myself. If you were cut by its blade, its poison would enter you, the more serious the wound, the more poison was injected. After she got me the first time, she told me it would take an hour for it to kill me, and that all she would have to do is stall until then. When I laughed at her capability to stall that long, she replied: 'No, not a whole hour, the mission shouldn't last that long.'"

"The mission? Was it not to kill us and take over Seretei?" Ukitake posed.

"I wondered that as well, so it makes me think that maybe they aren't against us after all, perhaps they were just testing us."

"Testing us, but who are they to have such a purpose?" Komamura wonders.

"Who knows, for now we should just be glad it's all behind us." Byakuya replies.

"Captain Kuchiki is right," Kyoraku agrees. "It's not like we can fallow them to wherever they went at this point. What's best now is to get back to work."

"Very well, return to your duties, you are dismissed." Yamamoto says and the captains leave, returning to their squads and attending to them.

What none of the captains knew was, Ronnin, the Soul King, was watching with the reiatsu camera he placed inside the meeting hall. He was wide-eyed and his hand was gripping his tea cup firmly. He had been that way by the time the meeting had almost ended. They had mentioned 60 years ago, and men in Captain and Lieutenant class. That day 60 years ago was Raitodaku chowa, the day that was so special on the Royal Guard calendar. The day that increased Twilight powers and made travel to and from Seretei impossible. For so long he didn't know what happened that day, and just now, 60 years later he found out. All of the people who vanished that day had become half-hallow, just like them.

He had entrusted Kisuke Urahara to create the Hogyoku 60 years ago. A mystic item that possessed his reiatsu inside it, that had the power to give Shinigami hollow powers, give hallows Shinigami powers, or take those powers away from those who already possessed it at ones own whim. How it had a 100 % probability of giving the powers, Ronnin was unable to master the art of taking the powers away; given enough time, the process would become irreversible, even by him himself. He knew that Urahara was charged with a crime related to all those people's disappearances, He knew it was possible for each of them who vanished to get hollow powers. Yet he hadn't connected the dots, even though it was so obvious. Kisuke had betrayed his trust, and he was now taking refuge in the human world, and he knew where he was. He was going to get this strait.

_Chapter 20: The Truth Behind it All_

The fallowing morning Ronnin met his Royal Guard at the scheduled time. However, he wouldn't be practicing with them today.

Ronnin approached them and spoke, "Today, you all will be practicing without me."

Some of them look as if they thought he was joking, others knew he was serious and confused as to the reason why.

"I have some business to attend to in the human world, so today you are to spar against each other."

"What are you doing?" Seiko asked.

"It's nothing of importance to you. Don't worry about it." Ronnin answered smiling.

"If you're refusing to tell us, then it must be pretty serious, so we won't pester you." Terra said before Seiko could argue.

Even though Seiko was Ronnin's right hand man, and the one he sent the most time with of all the Royal Guard, Terra seemed to be the one who understood him most. Seiko was the elder of the twins, and Seiko and Terra actually were extremely close in power, they always had been, ever since they first became Shinigami.

Before the Royal Guard, Seiko and Terra had almost never left each others sides, even though they would seem to argue a lot. Now the twins were still inseparable, and they actually seemed to get along better now then they had before. Seiko and Terra were truly a rare case; as rare twin soul reapers, they already had a great amount of power, the fact they both had a dormant twilight element made it all the better, and Ronnin wasn't going to let an opportunity to get these two in is Royal Guard. And he was glad he had them.

"Alright, I shouldn't be long, I might even be back before you finish your training." Ronnin said then took out a palm-sized glass orb, the orb glowed and opened a doorway to the human world, and walking through, leaving his guard to practice.

He arrived in the human world, in a place called Karakura Town. This was where Kisuke Urahara was taking refuge. And Ronnin was going to get some answers on 60 years ago. Ronnin went around and found himself at some sort of shop. He walked in only to see an empty room of merchandise.

"Urahara, where are you!" he shouted.

At this time a broad shouldered and rather muscular man walk to him.

"Who are you?" The man ask.

At first glace, Ronnin thought he was human, but the man's ability to see him told him otherwise. He figure this must be Tessai, the man charged with a crime along with Urahara.

"You are Tessai Tsukabishi correct?" Ronnin asked.

"What does a Shinigami have business with the boss?" Tessai asked, not answering.

"By boss, I'll assume you mean Kisuke Urahara. He knows me, and I have something very important to talk to him about." Ronnin said.

Tessai could tell Ronnin was angry for some reason, and his better judgment told him not to let this stranger see Urahara, But he also felt it was wiser not to go against this person's demands.

"What's all this ruckus out here?" A man asked sleepily as he entered the room.

Ronnin realized immediately it was Urahara, who look up at him and froze with the tired look still on his face.

"Tessai, could you leave the room for a moment?" Urahara asked, straitening up.

Tessai did as he was asked, even though he didn't think it best to leave him alone with that man..

"May I ask to what do I owe this visit?" Urahara said in his usual cheery voice.

"You betrayed me." Ronnin said in a deep, angry tone.

"What, when was this?" Urahara asked.

"About 60 years ago, remember the incident back then?" Ronnin asked.

"60 years ago, that was when I was still a Captain..." Urahara said then realizing to what event Ronnin was referring to.

"Why did you use the Hogyoku to give them hollow powers?" Ronnin asked.

"Wait, what?" Urahara was suddenly lost.

"Shinji Hirako, Hiyori Sarugaki, Love Aikawa, Mashiro Kuna. They all got hollow powers, just after I gave you the task of creating the Hogyoku. Does any of this ring a bell for you Kisuke?"

"Now wait a moment, You've got this wrong, I didn't do that to them." Urahara pursued.

"You didn't?" Ronnin didn't believe him. "Then who was it?"

"It was Sosuke Aizen." This made Ronnin freeze.

Aizen, he did it? The only reason Ronnin had even paused to think of this is because he was watching him for the past month, and Aura lead him to believe he was the one.

"Sosuke Aizen? He did it?"

"Yes, I tried to use the Hogyoku to reverse the possess, not to start it. But I was too late."

It was now Ronnin was convince Urahara was telling the truth. But also, now he was convince of everything, all his suspicions for the past month. Aura was right, Aizen was the man the Royal Guard was made for. He couldn't be more sure of it if Aizen walked up to him and admitted it.

Ronnin turned a began to walk away. "Urahara, you need to seal the Hogyoku, seal it and hide it. Do it as fast as possible, because I'm afraid time is running short." Ronnin says, pulling out the palm-sized glass orb he used to come here and returned to his dimension.

"Boss, who was that man?" Tessai asked, re-entering the room.

"Let's just say he was an old acquaintance of mine, pay no mind to him." Urahara replied, then walked to the room he kept the Hogyoku in. He was going to seal it.


	21. Movie 1: Trauma of the Hogyoku's Seal

_Movie 1: Trauma of Hogyoku's Seal_

A burning house, blades cross, Murderous eyes, Hikarihanshu. These were only some of the images that past through Ronnin's head that night. It was a fact, his own history had just been projected in a dream. The worst moments of his life had been rearing their ugly heads for a week now, and each night he woke up feeling worse and worse.

The vines of Keade's Shikai floated above him, her reiatsu flowing through them and attempting to heal, but there was no wound to close, no bleeding to stop. He was in perfect physical health, but there was something wrong with him, but neither one of them could determine the cause.

"I'm sorry Ronnin, but just like all the other times I can't sense anything wrong, even with my abilities." Keade stated with an apologetic tone.

Ronnin picked himself up with difficulty and sweat crawling over his face. "But these dreams aren't natural, I can feel the stress their putting on my body increase everyday." He argued.

"I know, I know, you've said that before. There has to have been a logical explanation for why this happened so suddenly. What happened the day these dreams started?" Keade inquired.

Ronnin sighed then answered, "The day this all started happening was completely average, I didn't do one thing I hadn't done since you came here."

"What about things you did in a few days prior to that?"

"Nothing, Nothing, Nothing at-" And of course he realized something only now. The day before the day of the night these dreams began, He had gone to the human world on the suspicion Kisuke Urahara betrayed him, and told him to seal the Hogyoku.

Once he told this to Keade, she thought about the possibility something had happened to him the day he went to the human world. "Was there anything special about the area you visited that could have triggered this reaction?" She asked.

"Just that it's where the Jurichi is hidden right now, but that couldn't possibly be the reason for the dreams." Ronnin answered.

After another minute of thought, Keade sighed. "I'll have to think about it for a while, but for now just try not to do anything that could strain your body." She then stood up and began to walk out of the room. "And that means you won't be joining us during practice till this subsides either!" She says loudly then closes the door behind her.

Ronnin sighed, lying back down and putting his hand over his eyes. _Why is this happening, now of all times?_ He thought to himself.

He got up and left his room to get something to eat, although he probably wouldn't be able to leave his house without being scolded by Keade. The day went by, and although some of the members, mainly Aura, and Keade, had come to see how he was feeling, Ronnin hadn't done anything by lie down or eat. But the worst of Ronnin's problem's hadn't even begun yet.

It was only the fallowing night Keade realized how real Ronnin's fears and illness had been. In fact, the entire Royal Guard knew it then. Blood spattered, a hollow howled, a body lie face down, sword raised high. These visions rushed through the mind of Ronnin that night; but this time, it wasn't just him, all members but one of the Royal Guard had the dreams that night. Impossible it may have been, but it happened, and now twelve of the thirteen were in a state of great turmoil and fear at what they saw, the past not shared even with Keade, the first to be chosen for the Royal Guard; Ronnin's history...

Everyone gathered in the meeting room Ronnin had made at the center of this city, of this dimension.

"The dream, these... visions Ronnin," Leith began. "What we're seeing really is your,"

"Yes, if it was possible, I never wanted any of you to know anything about my history, but now it seems something even I don't understand has forced the knowledge upon you all." Ronnin replied.

"What we saw, was enough to make even I shudder at the thought of what we must face one day." It was Seiko who admitted this. "I have never seen eyes like those of the/"

"BE QUIET SEIKO!" Aura shouted at him, stopping him from finishing his statement, She didn't want to think about it anymore than anyone else in the room did; but she knew Ronnin wanted to think of it the least.

"So, we know this is happening, and that it has for whatever reason affected us all. What are we even supposed to do with that information?" Kirio wondered.

"I have a theory," Keade began, and everyone turned their complete attention to her. "Ronnin told me that the day before his dreams began was the day he traveled to the human world, and told Ukitake to seal the Hogyoku." She explained.

"Are you saying sealing the Hogyoku is causing all this?" Rin asked.

"At this point it is the only explanation I have, it's the only thing that's connect to Ronnin."

"But then why has it begun to affect us?" Hikaru asked. "And why is Ken the only one who hasn't been?"

Terra sighed as she understood, "Because of this," She said and moved her hand over her face slightly, bringing part of her hollow mask upon her face, then removing it quickly. "We were brought in here and put through a transition, all twelve of us."

"However," Ken said, understanding as well. "My transition did not need the added effort of Ronnin's reiatsu, because I had a fully awakened Twilight element zanpakuto." Everyone else now understood as well.

"It's his reiatsu," Xun acknowledged. "Because of Ronnin's reiatsu flowing through us, we have begun to receive these horrible dreams as well."

"So, if Ukitake's sealing the Hogyoku is causing this, why don't we just go tell him to stop the process?" Akane suggested, but everyone looked at her as if that was the worst idea in a century.

"Don't you get it, the whole reason Ronnin had Ukitake seal the Hogyoku in the first place was because Aizen is the one, we can't make him stop just because we're having some nightmares." Shouta explained.

"So what, are you guys just going to live with these horrid visions!" Ken shouted at them, thinking they were all crazy. "Your bodies are literally being slowed down by this. what happens if it goes on to long huh? How do we know this will stop soon enough? What happens then! This created an awkward silence in the room.

"Ken," Keade started, but never completed the statement if she had one in the first place.

Even though Ken was the one unaffected by the dreams, he was taking this seriously. Perhaps it was _because_ he was the only one not affected that he was taking this so seriously, despite his overall personality, he had grown to love everyone here like his family. And maybe he felt like he had some responsibility right now as the only healthy one in the room. Whatever it was, it was enough to put him in this state, and that was something that even made Ronnin freeze in thought.

"Ken's right," Ronnin said. "Just because he's the one who's not dealing with it, doesn't mean it still isn't his problem. If it involves us it involves him too."

"So what do we do?" Seiko asks.

"If this was just the nightmares, then there would be no question we just needed to live with them until the sealing of the Hogyoku is done and we're over them. But since it's harming us physically, that makes things more complicated."

"Each night, our condition gets worse." Terra continued. "And if it progresses too far, the results could be disastrous."

"So this is going to be a group decision, we can't just let one of us decide our fate this time." Seiko said.

"Agreed," Keade said.

"Right then, we'll take a vote." Ronnin said, although he hardly thought it was necessary, he knew what most of them were thinking already. "All in favor of getting Urahara to stop the sealing process?" He asked, and when he did there were only 2 people who didn't raise their hands, Keade and himself.

Ronnin began to sand up, with as much difficulty as possible. "I will be going to him, Keade and Ken are the only ones who will be coming with me, I can't risk taking any others." He told them and Keade and Ken walked up to him.

Ronnin pulled out the sphere that takes them in and out of this realm. "Put your hands on it." Ronnin told the two of them, and they did so and Ronnin began the transportation.

But something happened, while trying to activate the orb, a ringing went through his head, and everyone else's head for that matter, other than Ken. "No, not now..." Ronnin ached as he knew what was happening, and it was happening at the worst possible time.

"Ronnin, Keade, what's wrong? Oh no," Ken said realizing what it was. "Ronnin! Open the portal, quick!" It was the best thing to do, only Ronnin could open the portal to or from this world, and their condition would only get worse if he didn't open the portal right now.

Ronnin was trying to open the portal before he fainted, as most the others, including Keade, had done already. The portal open and Ronnin and Ken were sucked out of their world, Keade did not go through the portal after becoming unconscious, leaving the other 11 there in a physically damaging dream.

When Ronnin and Ken appeared on the other side of the portal, Ronnin fainted on the spot, but Ken was thinking this would be over as soon as he got to Urahara. But when he looked up he knew that he wasn't going to get to Urahara until Ronnin woke back up. He looked up and found the two of them not in the human world, but in Hueco Mundo, Ronnin must have accidentally sent them here in his last efforts to get to the human world.

And it was getting worse, he just noticed that the transportation orb was starting to roll away from them because Ronnin dropped it. "No, no, no, no, no, no." Ken said as he began to run toward it but before he even made 4 steps forward something ran past and took the orb.

"Ah, no get back here!" Ken shouted at it but it was already out of view. He heard howls and turned around as Menos Grande were approaching the unconscious Ronnin. "Crap,"

_ "What is it that drives you?" _the question hangs in the air above a figure shrouded in darkness. _"You refuse to go down, why?"_

_ "I... I have to protect them." _A man answers. _"I can't let you go!"_

Images begin to stream through again. Blood covering the ground, a sword slashing, a man screaming. Two men are in conversation again, but the words can no longer be heard. A kido spell is launched and a building goes up in flames.

Ronnin wakes up. "What..." It takes him a moment to process what happened before he lost consciousness. But after he remembers what happened, he realized he should be in the human world, and where he was, was a completely different place. He was in Hueco Mundo.

"Ronnin, thank goodness your awake." Ken said, helping Ronnin sit upright.

"What's going on Ken, why are we in Hueco Mundo?"

"Apparently during your trauma you took us here instead of the human world."

"So why didn't you take us to the human world after we got here?"

"Because something stole your orb." Ken said and Ronnin realized that he indeed didn't have it with him. "Until we find it, we aren't going anywhere."

"What, why didn't you chase after it?"

"Two reasons, one, I lost sight of it, and two, if I had tried, you would have been killed by a bunch of Menos!"

"Tch, alright, well we better get started, take me back to where my orb was stolen."

"Right," Ken said, letting Ronnin up on his back so he wouldn't push himself.

Once the two got back to where the orb was stolen, Ronnin began to concentrate. Because the orb was forged from his reiatsu and special material, he would be able to track it almost like a hunter tracks a deer.

A few moments past then Ronnin directed Ken, "That way," He pointed and Ken didn't waste any time. every now and then Ronnin would give him directions. "Turn left, diagonal right, keep going strait." A few hours had past and both Ronnin and Ken were wondering how far this hallow went with the orb. another 10 minutes or so past and there was still no sign of it. But now that became the least of their problems, Ronnin's head was beginning to ring again, He was going to faint again.

"Ronnin, come on stay awake, who knows how much further it could be from here." Ken said, setting him down on the ground.

Ronnin then began to draw something in the sand, it was obviously a map to go on for a bit while he was unconscious. "1cm is 10 yards. Ronnin whispered before he past out. Ken understood he would have to memorize this map before continuing.

This kind of stuff really wasn't his area of expertise but he had to do his best this time. 1cm is 10 yards, Ken could easily tell lengths, so that was no problem. After 5 minutes or so of studying the map, Ken set Ronnin up on his back again and set off.

Blood spatters, a body lies dead with a man standing over it, a menacing look on his face. Another man jumped at the killer in rage and sorrow, but it struck back easily.

_"Why do you want to live?" _The question lingered._ "What is it that drives you?" _this question was asked again.

_"Please," _The other man begged. _"I can't die now. I can't die."_

_ "You will..."_ The sentence was cut off as Ronnin woke up, still on Ken's back.

"Ronnin, perfect timing, I need new directions." Ken said as he came to a halt.

Ronnin focused again, but the stress in his body had reached such a level it was affecting his ability to track the orb. After a few moments it told Ken which way to go.

"Just go strait, it's stopped moving and we're closing in. Lower your reiatsu and put on your hallow mask, so it won't realize we're Shinigami." Ken did so, and as they got nearer, Ronnin told him to let him down.

"_What will you do once we find the hallow_?" Ken asked.

"_The hallow is Adjuchas level, and in my state, I would still have trouble against it, so I'm going to bluff it, if that doesn't work, it's up to you to beat it and recover the orb_." Ronnin explained.

"_Got it_." Ken agreed half unwillingly.

The two approached a cave, Ronnin using every ounce of his strength to look like he wasn't injured.

"_Come out Adjuchas_!" Ronnin called, raising his reiatsu in a threatening manner.

Something began to emerge from the shadows, when it came out they saw it had a panther appearance, and was holding the orb with its tail.

"Shinigami, no, you have masks. what are you?"

"_That is none of your concern, give me back the orb you stole from me, it is impossible for you to use it_." Ronnin shouted.

"And what happens if I don't give it back?"

"_I'll kill you_." Ronnin bluffed.

"Ha, you think a measly threat like that will make me, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, hand this over? Not a chance."

"_Don't believe I can? Let me show you_." Ronnin said raising his reiatsu so that some pressure was put on Grimmjow.

"Tch, so you are strong," Grimmjow admitted. "But I'm no fool, if I do give this back to you, I expect something in return. What does this orb do anyhow?"

"_You're in no position to bargain_." Ronnin bluffed, although he couldn't raise his reiatsu higher without straining his own body with it.

"Aren't I, as I just said, I'm no fool, I can tell when someone's bluffing." Ronnin scowled at this. "You are strong, but in your condition you can't take me. That's where this other guy comes in, I might not be able to take you both on, but he won't leave you unnecessarily. Meaning I could just run away without fear of dieing."

"_Fine then,_ _how about I give you power_." Ronnin said, relaxing his reiatsu. "_You are obviously a top class Adjuchas, who's only way of getting stronger is to become a Vasto Lorde. Am I right_?"

"Your saying you can turn me into a Vasto Lorde?" Grimmjow said, believing this another bluff.

"_Not exactly, I can give you a similar transformation to what I have done to myself. A I am a Shinigami with powers of a hallow, I can make you a hallow with the powers of a Shinigami._" Ronnin explained.

Grimmjow thought about this proposition for a moment, then answered. "If you can really do this, I will return your orb." He agreed.

Ronnin walked up in front of Grimmjow as Ken walked behind him, ready to take the orb once the transformation was complete, although he was doing so half-heartily, he didn't like the idea of making a hallow stronger rather than killing it. But he understood why Ronnin was doing it, it was the only way to retrieve the orb at this point."

Ronnin placed his hand on Grimmjow's mask. "No funny business now."

"_Don't worry, unlike you hallow, we keep our promises._" Ken said with a very hateful tone.

Ronnin bean to remove Grimmjow's mask, but not in a way that would destroy him, but as one that would transform him. As the mask came off, or most of it, Grimmjow's appearance changed. He was given a human look, and long blue hair, and the mask that was in Ronnin's hand turned into a sword. Ken grabbed the orb as Grimmjow's tail had also vanished, therefore forcing him to drop it. Ronnin gave Grimmjow the sword and Ken walked over and gave the orb to Ronnin.

Ronnin and Ken stared at Grimmjow in the same distrusting way he was looking at them. After maybe a minute, Ronnin activated the orb, and transported him and Ken to the human world, leaving Grimmjow in his new form, the form of an Arrancar.

The two appeared in Karakura Town, right in front of Urahara's Shop. "Wait here, Ronnin told Ken and the two had finally released their masks.

"Urahara!" Ronnin shouted as he entered the shop. Urahara appeared almost as soon as he shouted, as silly looking as ever.

"Another visit, I hope I'm not supposed to be expecting this." Urahara joked.

"Status on the Hogyoku's seal." Ronnin demanded.

"At the level the seal is at now, it would take someone a couple months to get it up to it's full potential." Urahara explained.

Ronnin rubbed his face and scratched his head in thought. "It will have to do, I want you to stop the progress, and keep it as safe as you can."

"But, why?" Urahara inquired.

"It's hard to explain and there's no time, but the short version is that it's affecting me, I need you to stop the progress." Ronnin demanded.

"Of course, I will no longer try to seal the Hogyoku's power." Urahara said, and Ronnin left. "Tessai," Urahara called, and he entered the room just as Ronnin left.

"Yes boss?" He asked.

"We won't be sealing the Hogyoku anymore, we are going to halt where we are."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, there is no choice in the matter."

Ronnin and Ken now went back to their dimension at long last, But it was not a very warm welcome home, and for two reasons. The first reason was because no one was in the physical condition for a warm welcome. The second was because they took 10 times as long as they should have, so everyone was pretty angry with them.

Ken did the best to explain what happened, how in the confusion of teleportation, they ended up in Hueco Mundo, and about the hallow that took the orb, and how they chased it down. It was extremely difficult explaining that in order to get the orb back, they had to strike a deal with the Adjuchas Grimmjow and turned him into an Arrancar. Once he finished that part, everyone went ballistic.

"Are you crazy?" Terra asked.

"You turned him into an Arrancar?" Seiko sounded nearly appalled.

"You must have been nuts to do that!" Keade said.

"Was it really the only way?" Aura asked.

"I'm afraid it was, if there was another way, believe me I would have done it, but that was one smart hallow." Ronnin admitted.

"Geez, to think that we would ever help a hallow." Shouta said.

"Let's just put this whole thing behind us, and never speak of anything that happened this last week ever." Rin said, referring to the dreams of Ronnin's past.

"Agreed," Hikaru said, and the rest of the room went silent in agreement.

Although everyone had known it was best not to bring the topic up, they were all curious about some of the things they saw in those visions, even more so about their last dream. Who was that man shrouded in darkness with such an ominous feeling around him, and what was he about to say... _"You will..."_ What was he will? All they could do was make an inference.


	22. Time's up

_Chapter 21: Times Up_

It had been 50 years since the fake invasion on Seretei to test the captains strength, and Ronnin was continuing surveillance on Aizen, who hadn't yet made his move, but lately, he had vanished from his normal businesses, but he had never been assigned a mission or anything before these disappearances.

Unfortunately Ronnin could only see within Seretei, so even he didn't know where Aizen really went. But the strangest thing was, No one seemed to notice his absence at all. Not only did no one even bring up the question, he had sometimes found captains and lieutenants use Aizen's name as if speaking to him, he didn't understand any of it.

Some one knocked on the door. "Come on in Aura." He said, knowing who is was by the reiatsu. even after 50 years, Aura was the only one in the Royal Guard who knew about his surveillance on Seretei, he didn't want to rouse the others without Aizen actually making a move against him. After Aura entered, Ronnin thought of something. "Aura, come here and look at this, tell me what you see."

"Alright," Aura said sitting down and looking into the orb. Right now was one of those times he noticed people using Aizen's name as if speaking to him. "It's Kyoraku and Ukitake speaking with Aizen." She just confirmed his suspicions. Ronnin did see Kyoraku and Ukitake, however, Aizen was not present in his vision.

"No, it's not. Aizen is not there at all." Ronnin said.

"What, but I see him right there." Aura argued.

"But I don't, and I'll bet if we did show this to the others, none of them would see him either."

"But why?" But right after asking she understood.

"Because you are the only one of us who has seen his zanpakuto. You told me of how you thought there was more to his zanpakuto than he was letting on, this might be it. It looks like it puts whoever sees it into an illusion of some sort; an illusion in which he is the master of everything."

"So I'm just seeing and hearing what he wants everyone to see and hear." Aura stated.

"Exactly, and if I were to see his zanpakuto in it's released state, I would probably be under the illusion as well."

"I see, are you sure we shouldn't tell the others about this yet?"

"I'm sure, we still can't mention this to them Aura." Ronnin said.

"But if we don't/"

"No, we can't tell them." Ronnin raised his voice slightly.

"OK Ronnin, I understand." Aura said sadly and walked out, and Ronnin sighed.

"I have a promise to keep, I swore it, even if I didn't want to." Ronnin whispered to himself.

It was a surprise though, Aura had never spoken against what he told her to do, not even when she first met him. Her loyalty was unwavering all the time, if he asked her to do something for her she would get it done. It was probably that kind of commitment and dedication that helped her get to the level she is today. Though in this, it was strange, Ronnin felt slightly glad that for once in her life here, she had tried to change his mind and challenged his decision.

Aizen, Gin, and Tosen seemed to start acting strange lately. Ronnin had seen each of them make many trips to the Central 46. The only problem with making out why was that it didn't seem to have fallowed any particular event in Seretei. If he had been able to get some reiatsu camera's into Central 46, he could figure out what was going on, but unfortunately he was unable to do so.

Then one day, something happened. A group of ryoka appeared in Seretei, after a girl named Rukia Kuchiki was arrested for a reason Ronnin was unsure of. Apparently these ryoka had come to rescue her. Then something crazy happened. Ever since Ronnin found out about Aizen's illusions, he's had Aura attend many of his watch-overs.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The lieutenant of squad 5, Aizen's lieutenant screamed at the top of her lunges.

"What just happened, why did she scream?" Ronnin asked Aura, who's face was in horror.

"I- I know it's just and illusion Aizen projected, but... Aizen... is dead, pinned to the wall by his own sword." Aura told him.

"What, you mean... he's faked his own murder?"

"Yes, he did."

Over the course of the next week or so, Ronnin and Aura paid special attention to the ryoka and Rukia Kuchiki, as they both seemed to have a role to play in Aizen's faked death. They also had given more attention to the emotionally distressed lieutenant of squad 5, Hinamori Momo, believing she might lead them to Aizen's current whereabouts.

The captive the ryoka were trying to rescue, Rukia Kuchiki, had been sentenced for execution the next day. When the time came, and Rukia Kuchiki was up facing the Sokyoku, a fire phoenix, suddenly Ronnin knew what was going on. A special bit of reiatsu was being picked up from Rukia's body, more accurately from the gigai she was still currently in. It was the Hogyoku, Urahara must have put it in a gigai to try and hide it's whereabouts, but it hadn't worked. Aizen found out Rukia's gigai contained the Hogyoku, and that was what he wanted. If the Sokyoku killed Rukia Kuchiki, he would get it for sure, he couldn't let that happen.

The Sokyoku dove at Rukia, preparing to kill her, but before it could reach her, Ronnin poured his reiatsu through the cameras placed in Seretei all at once, and used them to halt the attack. Also at that moment, one of the ryoka, Ichigo Kurosaki, jumped in the way. Had Ronnin done nothing, both he and Rukia Kuchiki would have been killed, but he wouldn't be able to stop the next attack, and it was because he had stopped the first one to begin with. pouring his reiatsu to stop the attack of a beast that possessed the power of 1000 zanpakuto's was difficult, even for him, but now the camera's would do nothing but be stuck to the Sokyoku blade.

But he got lucky, just as the Sokyoku got ready for it's second attack, Kyoraku and Ukitake appeared on the scene, and used a special tool to trap, then destroy the Sokyoku. However, in doing so, it also destroyed Ronnin's camera's, he could no longer see anything happening in Seretei unless he went there. But that was completely out of the question with Aizen lurking around somewhere, all he could do was hope, but all the odds weighed against him.

He could now predict what would happen. The ryoka and the betraying captains, Kyoraku, Ukitake, and Kenpachi, would do battle with the other captains as Histugaya and his lieutenant arrived at the Central 46, learning some truth behind the lies of Rukia's order to be executed and Aizen. However, everyone in Seretei was under Aizen's illusion. Unohana would also realize to go to the Central 46, after a while, everyone would become aware of Aizen's plot, but by then it would be too late, Aizen would have gotten the Hogyoku and run away, most likely to Hueco Mundo, And everyone would then focus on getting to Aizen, killing him, and retrieving the Hogyoku.

"Now, do we tell the others?" Aura both asked and insisted.

"Your right," Ronnin finally agreed. "This can't wait any longer."

The two went out and met the others at the training field. Ronnin got their attention, then he and Aura explained everything. They started, of course, about when Aura told Ronnin about Aizen being suspicious. Then about using the reiatsu cameras to keep watch over him, then about the special trip to the world of the living and it's true meaning to get Urahara to seal the Hogyoku, confirming the suspicions against Aizen. After finishing with that, they explained everything about the ryoka, Rukia Kuchiki, and Aizen's faked murder. Then about how Ronnin believed what would happen now that the camera's were destroyed.

"I don't believe it." Seiko muttered after the whole story.

"So time's pretty much up now huh?" Ken asked rhetorically.

"We're about to go through the challenge of our lives now." Kirio stated.

"Will we be ready by the time he gets here?" Hikaru wondered.

"If he's really as strong as Ronnin, I don't think another 1000 years of training would prepare us for him." Keade said.

"I'm not sure we could ever be ready for him now." Rin said.

"This is going to be near impossible." Xun believed.

"But we'll have to give it our all." Akane said.

"We won't be given a choice in the first place." Shouta told them.

"So close, but it will feel like a lifetime of waiting." Leith said.

"Yea, and then there's his zanpakuto, what a horrifying ability." Terra noted.

"It doesn't matter, we will face him and do everything we can to stop him." Aura told them all.

"And if you can't, I will, if he is about to kill any one of you, I will step in. I won't let any one of you die." Ronnin swore to them all right then and there. "From here on out, training will be tougher than ever before, get ready." Ronnin told them, all of them drew their blades, ready for what was to come.


	23. Surveillance

_Chapter 22: Surveillance_

With Aizen's plan realized, Ronnin could not just sit by and wait for him to show up in his dimension, he needed to know when it was happening. So, he sent 2 of his Royal Guard to Seretei, another two to Hueco Mundo, and one to the world of the living, to meet up with Urahara and have them all gather as much intelligence as they could on the matter.

Shouta and Leith were sent to Seretei and told to blend in as new recruits. This was the most difficult of the three places, because if they ran into either captain Kyoraku or Ukitake, they would be discovered, so it was very important to stay as far away from them as possible, because it could even prove dangerous if one of them got to close and felt their reiatsu, having become so familiarized with them during battle, even if that was 50 years ago.

Ken and Xun were sent to Hueco Mundo, and in the most dangerous of the three areas, due to all the lurking hallow and the fact Aizen would definitely be found at Las Noches, and might even realize they were there the moment they entered.

Kirio was the one sent to the world of the living to meet up with Urahara. She had been chosen because how they were in different squads, they did know each other a little from when she was still serving as the 12th squad captain; even Tessai would recognize her. How it was the easiest of the three area, it was still critically important they get information on the ryoka that entered Seretei when Aizen betrayed them all, assuming they were even still alive.

When Kirio arrived at Urahara's shop, she first found a couple of children in the front cleaning, or at least they had the supplies to be cleaning. The girl seemed to want to clean, but the boy was just messing around.

"Jinta," The girl said to the boy. "We need to clean, or else Tessai will get mad." She had black hair in pigtails and a couple bangs hanging down her face, and her eyes were dark blue. She was wearing a white shirt that had the shop's name on it and a pink skirt with white polka dots.

"Yea, so what?" The boy named Jinta replied, swinging his broom like it was a bat. "I'm not afraid of that big lug, and you shouldn't be either Ururu." Jinta had short red hair, and black eyes. He was wearing the same shirt as the girl named Ururu and a pair of blue jeans.

The two of them seemed to be normal humans, so they shouldn't be able to see her. However, it was unlikely that Urahara would have hired random kids if they didn't have knowledge of Seretei, which meant either way she didn't need to worry.

She walked around the corner and both the kids reacted to her. "Who are you shinigami?" Jinta asked in a very incriminating tone.

"You don't need to know, I'm here for Kisuke Urahara, is he here?" Kirio asked, and just then someone came out of the shop, and she recognized him as Tessai.

It seemed he was coming to check on the kids, but when he saw her he froze. "I'm here for Urahara, is he here?" Kirio repeated her question to him.

"Of course, come on in." Urahara was the one to say this, appearing behind Tessai.

Kirio walked inside with Urahara, but Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu stayed outside the shop.

"So, what brings you, Kirio?" Urahara asked.

"I'm here on ordered business, Aizen's the one we've been waiting for, I need to know what happened to the ryoka after what happened in Seretei.

"I see, we'll then, I'd best start from the beginning, When the boy named Ichigo Kurosaki gained his powers as a Shinigami..."

A good 2 weeks had past since Aizen left Seretei, so since they were posing as fresh out of the barrel Shinigami, Shouta and Leith would be able to ask what happened with Aizen without rousing too much suspicion. Any Shinigami that was here during the accident would have more or less seen the whole thing go down, and wouldn't need to ask.

"Hey, we've been hearing a lot of stuff about what went on a couple weeks ago with a few captains." Shouta said.

" The two of us are new, so we wanted to get the whole story." Leith said. "Fill us in Lieutenant..."

"Abarai, Renji Abarai. Sure thing newbie's." Renji agreed. "Although the full story starts back in the world of the living, when my captain and I we're ordered by Central 46, or actually Aizen pretending to be Central 46, to take back Rukia Kuchiki. Little did we expect to find a Substitute Shinigami with her by the name, Ichigo Kurosaki..."

"So what exactly are we doing here again?" Ken asked as he and Xun ran toward Las Noches in the distance.

"We're gathering intelligence on Aizen and how strong his forces are." Xun replied. "Avoiding as much confrontation as possible." He reminded Ken before he went on a rampage.

"Then why did I have to come, I'd rather be training with Ronnin."

"For in case we do get into a battle we can't get out of, just do your part."

"Roger," Ken said bored.

While waiting, Ronnin and the remaining Royal Guard members weren't going to sit around, they would be training just as hard as ever if not harder during the scheduled 2 day period. Ronnin wouldn't be going any easier on them just because their were fewer of them, he would be at the same level for the 7 of them as he was for all 12 of them.

As former Captain and Lieutenant, Rin and Hikaru made great double attacks, and the better the chemistry between everyone, the stronger they would be as a team. Terra, Keade, and Aura had had a great bond with each other, so they would always be found hanging out together, and every moment they spent together only strengthened their teamwork. It didn't hurt they were the 3rd, 4th, and 5th strongest of all 13 of them. Then of course, as twins, Terra and Seiko knew each other like the back of their hands, and together, they made it to the top of this team and 2nd and 3rd strongest, only behind Ronnin.

Akane was the only one who didn't seem to have a long period bond with anyone else in the Royal Guard, which was partly influenced by her spending anytime she had outside training meditating to help with control of her zanpakuto. The bonds everyone share was able to make them stronger faster, and a critical bond was something Akane, Xun, Ken, and Kirio lacked the time to obtain, which is why they held lower numbers of the 13.

The two days past by, then Ronnin used his orb to pull Kirio, Ken, Xun, Shouta, and Leith back into the dimension and repot the information they had.

"So, I want this from the beginning," Ronnin told them all.

"Right," Kirio replied and began her story she got from Urahara about the Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, and all their friends. She told about how Rukia rescued then gave her powers to Ichigo, how their relationship went from there, and about the Quincy who's race was supposed to be extinct. She told of the Menos Ichigo was able to defeat and of Orihime Inoue's and Sado Yasutora's strange powers, born out of Ichigo's overflowing reiatsu. Then told about The 6th squad lieutenant and captain who came to take Rukia back.

She told of how he was defeated and how his Shinigami powers were taken away. She told how Urahara put him through training to get his Shinigami powers back, as it turned out, he had his own Shinigami powers from the start. She told of when he emerged from his training, not as a Shinigami, but as a half-hallow, half-Shinigami like them, which Urahara now calls Vizords. Ichigo does not know he is what is called a Vizord yet.

"And that's about it." Kirio said.

"We got the story from the point the lieutenant and captain came to the human world under fake orders to capture Rukia Kuchiki." Shouta said.

"You know most of what happened, everything with the ryoka's invasion to the time of Rukia's execution and the Sokyoku's destruction. And after that was basically what you thought would happen Ronnin." Leith added.

"Captain Histugaya and Unohana had seen some unusual things, so they went to the Central 46 to find them slaughtered and that Aizen had betrayed them. After informing everyone about it through use of kido, the Ryoka and Captains teamed up to try and stop Aizen, but a large group of Menos showed up and rescued him, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tosen, pulling them in to Hueco Mundo. The Ryoka had been recuperating in Seretei after the incident, and will be leaving back for the world of the living in a couple more days."

"Alright, So Ken, Xun, how did things on your end go?" Ronnin asked, but the two of them looked a little nervous.

"Aizen was their alright," Ken said.

"And so were espada." Xun added, and everyone knew what that meant.

"Espada, the strongest Arrancar in all of Hueco Mundo, and he has ten of them." Ken said.

"In other words..." Terra started.

"Seretei is practically doomed." Seiko finished.

"We will more than likely face Aizen before the end of the upcoming winter season, maybe even before it begins." Ronnin told them. "But I knew the day would almost positively come sooner or later, I just wish we had a little more time than this."

"No point dwelling on it now though, right?" Aura asked.

"That's right Aura," Ronnin answered. "No point dwelling on it now, let's get back to training."


	24. Truth be Told

_Chapter 23: Truth be Told_

Ronnin and the Royal Guard had just finished training, so some of them, Akane more so than others, were still breathing heavily as they assembled in their meeting room. Ronnin had told them he needed to tell them some important information concerning Aizen, and he had looked pretty serious about it. Even Ken was paying more attention than usual when they were called here.

"As I said," Ronnin started when he was sure they were all ears. "This information is in regard to Aizen, who without a doubt is the one person strong enough to defeat me, to kill me." The last words made many shudder, the thought of Ronnin dying was a lot to bear. "It is time you learned the truth of my history, the real reasons my brother and I never finished the Seretei Project ourselves."

"Wasn't it because you both realized you couldn't run Seretei by yourselves?" Terra asked, as that was what they were told whenever they joined the Royal Guard.

"This was just what I chose to write on the blueprints for whoever found them. It is not the whole truth, thought it holds a small fragment of it." Ronnin answered.

"Then what is the truth?" Seiko asked, a sense of dread in his voice.

"It all happened the night before we vanished, we were talking about what should be modified on the blueprints."

_ "Hey Ronnin, you sure we need an execution site? We already have the Maggot's Nest, won't that be enough?" Ronnin's Brother wondered._

_ "It's meant for the one that get too strong and pose a threat to Seretei even if they don't have a zanpakuto. It's more of a precaution, but it will probably be needed in some cases." Ronnin replied._

_ "I guess you're right. OK then, moving on, it looks like we should complete the kido list."_

_ "Yea, 98 Bakudo and 98 Hado so far, so then/" Ronnin began, but then an explosion sounded right outside their house. "What was that?"_

_ "Don't know, let's go check it out." Ronnin's brother said, and the two of them ran outside, grabbing their swords on the way._

_ When they got outside, there was a fire over their house, and in front of them was a figure. They couldn't see his features, the darkness spreading across him, but they could see his eyes clearly, eyes filled with loathing, yet strangely made him look like he had a sinister grin on his face. He held a sword in his hand, and seeing this, Ronnin and his brother drew theirs._

_ "Who are you?" Ronnin asked. The man didn't reply, but took a step forward then vanished from sight and reappeared next to Ronnin's brother, slashing so fast he was just barely able to dodge, but still got knocked down from the blow. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Ronnin shouted. "How do you have Shinigami powers?"_

_ Again the man didn't reply, then Ronnin's brother got his feet and said, "He doesn't seem to be in a talkative mood right now, so let's just kick his butt." He Shunpoed behind the man, but before he had even begun his attack, the man vanished in shunpo and then Ronnin's brother got kicked from behind by the man, and was knocked down. Ronnin then took his turn and jumped at the man, slashing, but was easily blocked and countered; Ronnin dodged by mere centimeters._

_ The man vanished in shunpo again, Ronnin and his brother were stunned at not being able to fallow his moves, then Ronnin received a slash on his shoulder from the man, who was behind them now. Ronnin's vision began to blur, and for a moment Ronnin thought the wound was so deep he was already dying from loss of blood, but quickly realized there was no way that was possible... then it happened._

_ Ronnin closed his eye, hearing the man stating, "So it's awakening."_

_ When Ronnin opened his eyes again, he was in a completely different place. He looked around and it appeared that he was in a forest, but everything, the grass, the trees, the bushes, everything was made of black and white fire._

_ "Hello," a voice said. Ronnin looked forward and saw two figures, the one who had spoken was made almost completely out of black fire, just a bit of white fire showing in it, he had the physical shape of a man though. There was a chain on his leg, and that chain connected him to the second figure. The second was opposite of the first, it was made mostly out of white fire, with just a little black fire visible; what's more, it was the form of a beast, like a lion or tiger._

_ "Huh, Where am I? Who are you, What are you?" Ronnin asked in utter confusion, then also realizing the wound he received only moments ago was no longer present._

_ "This is your soul, Ronnin." The tiger spoke in answer._

_ "My... soul?" Ronnin repeated._

_ "That's right, it is your soul, and it is where we reside." The man said._

_ "But who are you?" Ronnin asked again._

_ "We are parts of your soul, we are your power, your zanpakuto."_

_ "Zanpakuto?" Ronnin repeated again._

_ "The sword you now wield in battle," The tiger said, sounding like she was angry Ronnin didn't understand what they were saying. "You are only now able to hear our voices."_

_ "That's right, many times have we called to you before, but you are only now ready to listen. No, you need to listen to us."_

_ "So what is a zanpakuto?" Ronnin asked. _

_ "The zanpakuto is the reflection of your personality and strength manifest in the form of a weapon, then sealed in the shape of a sword." The man explained._

_ "You cannot use this weapon however," The tiger continued, "Unless you listen to your zanpakuto and learn its name, or this case, their names."_

_ "Your names." Ronnin repeated, this time sounding like he understood._

_ "Once you call one of our names, the shape of the sword you wield will change, and our abilities will become yours to use."_

_ "This power, will it help me defeat the man that attacked me."_

_ "Perhaps," The man said. "But the man is strong, fast, much more so than you, simply learning our names may not be enough to beat him, much less kill him."_

_ "Still, I have to try, if I don't he may kill me and my brother." Ronnin pleaded._

_ "Very well then." The tiger began. "Listen to me and listen to me well. I am the light of your blade, the offense, the destruction, the beast. And my name is..." At that moment Ronnin came back to reality._

_ He shouted the name, "Hikarihanshu!" And with that his blade morphed in shape into a white tiger blade, but was different from what he used in present day. It also had black marks twisting across the blade._

_ Ronnin took in the scene around him, needing a moment to refresh on what had happened. Then he remembered everything, and it looked as if not a moment had past since he closed his eyes._

_ "Ronnin, are you OK, what happened to your sword?" Ronnin's brother called._

_ "Better than OK," Ronnin replied then ran at blinding new speeds he didn't have before, and got behind the attacker, slashing. Although delayed, the man was still able to make an easy block and push Ronnin back._

_ "You have the power do you?" The man spoke, then slashed at Ronnin._

_ Everything around him seemed to slow down as the other entity of his blade spoke to Ronnin. "Seal the blade now," he said, and Ronnin obeyed. "Now listen to me, I am the darkness of your blade, the defense, the protection, the tamer. And my name is..."_

_ Ronnin called out the name, "Kuraihanshu!" Now his zanpakuto turned into a black lion blade, and had white strips running across it, unlike his present day blade. Ronnin blocked the attack with ease, then pushed back with his blade._

_ "Oh?" The man's voice carried only a touch of surprise. "Well then, you are more trouble, so I will kill the other first." He said turning to Ronnin's brother and Shunpoing, appearing behind him and jabbing. He was suddenly extremely faster and fiercer than just moments ago, and the jab went through Ronnin's brother like he was butter, going strait through his heart, killing him._

_ Ronnin was paralyzed with shock and despair. In that shock and despair, Ronnin shouted his brother's name, "TAKUMI!"_

_ Ronnin took in everything, as if he had just lost all memory of what happened since the explosion outside the house. He saw his house in flames, one man's bloody blade, a dead body under it that was his brother, Takumi. He saw eyes filled with loathing and ease, and he felt the pain of the wound in his shoulder; he dropped to his knees in sadness. Then the man walked over to him._

_ "Now die," He said swinging his blade down on Ronnin, but Ronnin instinctively blocked._

_ "Why do you want to live?" The man asked._

_ "I... I have to protect them." Ronnin answered. "I can't let you go." He realized he was crying._

_ "What is it that drives you?" The man asked._

_ "Please, I can't die now, I can't die!" Ronnin begged._

_ "You... will... die." The man replied. "But in response to this plead for life, and the release of your zanpakuto, I will not do it yet." Ronnin looked into the man's eyes with surprise. "I will let you get stronger, to try and surpass me, then I will find you again, and kill you. It should put up for a good show if nothing else._

_ Ronnin stopped crying. "You're wrong," He replied, swallowing down fear. "I will get stronger, I will fight you again, but I will not die, I will prevail over you, surpass you, and kill you!"_

_ At this the man laughed. "Try you may, but you will not kill me, goodbye now, Shinigami." The man said and Shunpoed away, leaving Ronnin there alone, and he began to weep again over the loss of his brother._

_ The rest of the night was spent putting the fire on his house out, writing the letter on the blueprints that would later be found by Yamamoto, and burying Takumi. Once this was done, He went to Seretei, found the one finished building, tied the blueprints to the wall with an incantation, and hid inside the house, never to be seen by Soul Society again._

"And that's what happened." Ronnin finished, and took a look at all the sickened, shocked, depressed, or a mix of all three expressions on his Royal Guards faces in reply to the story. He swore to himself right then and there; he would never let them die at Sosuke Aizen's hands, he would never let them feel this feeling again.


	25. Nothing but Confusion

_Chapter 24: Nothing but Confusion_

Ever since Ronnin told the Royal Guard the truth behind the struggle between him and Aizen, and the inevitable fight they were certain would come soon, all of them wanted to make sure they were all ready for it as much as they could. Everyone was taking training like the next day could be the day Aizen came to attack them. None of them wanted to be unprepared, no one wanted to be too weak to stop Aizen. They were taking training so seriously they were doing one-on-one training sessions with Ronnin in an attempt to become much stronger as quickly as possible.

Ronnin knew that Aizen would go to Karakura Town to create the Oken, so ahead of time he went there and set up reistu camera's just like he had done in Seretei 50 years ago when they tested the 13 court Guard Squads. He would check the camera's often, not sure when Aizen would come, and not wanting to get caught off guard when he did come. Ronnin knew that the 13 Court Guard Squads would try to stop Aizen from achieving his goal at all costs, but he was almost certain that would be useless against Aizen.

Ronnin was fearing this battle ever since the day he accepted the challenge. Aizen was much stronger than himself back then, and there was no doubt his powers had grown just as Ronnin's powers had been growing ever since then. If he were honest with himself, he was sure if it was even possible for him to surpass Aizen. He wondered if he was fighting a hopeless battle for all this time, if he really should have just accepted death from Aizen's blade in their first clash.

But there were things surrounding Aizen that Ronnin did not understand. If Aizen was going to do battle with him, why didn't he go to the Human world and create the Oken without making the 13 Court Guard Squads get involved? Why is it Aizen stayed within the Seretei for so long when he could have just come to settle the battle so much sooner? If he had no doubt in his power, why would he go through the trouble of getting the Hogyoku?

Further more, if he wanted the Hogyoku so bad, why did he go through the trouble of tricking everyone into getting Rukia Kuchiki, who held the Hogyoku in her body, to be executing when he could have gone to take it by force in an instant? Why did he need Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen to carry out his plans? Why did he enlist the help of the Arrancar and go to Hueco Mundo? So many question flowed through Ronnin's mind that he was getting a headache thinking about them all.

And there was one question that circled high above all the others. Through all this nonsense for the past few months, Ronnin had noticed one strange factor that Aizen seemed particularly interested in, although Ronnin didn't have the slightest idea what the reason for that was. But this factor was the Substitute Shinigami: Ichigo Kurosaki. For some reason, Aizen seemed to have caused all the occurrences with Ichigo, as if he had planned every single detail of what had happened with the chaos of Soul Society from years before specifically to test Ichigo Kurosaki.

But why? There was no reason for Aizen to do any of this. He should have just gone to make the Oken right when he found out about it. In any other kind of situation, Ronnin wouldn't worry about much, if at all, but this was a special case. Aizen always seemed like a logical person who took everything into account and tried to find the fasted way to get his plans completed. And he was strong enough to execute any plan without a problem, so why was he taking this long to get here.

Then there was one more question the Ronnin had actually been asking himself ever since Aizen let him live. That question of course was, why did Aizen allow Ronnin to live at all? This was the one question Ronnin would never find the answer to on his own, in order to learn the answer, he would have to ask Aizen directly. And the question about why Aizen let him live wasn't even the biggest question. There were plenty of other questions about Aizen Ronnin didn't have a clue about.

Where did Aizen come from anyways? How long did he have the powers of a Shinigami? If he wanted him and Takumi dead because of their Shinigami powers, why is it he ever let the Seretei project to be completed and so many Shinigami to be born at all? There had to be more behind Aizen's motives for attacking him and Takumi than meets the eyes.

Aizen really thought extremely little of the Shinigami of Seretei. Ronnin could tell this because throughout all his tricks during the Ryoka break in involving Ichigo Kurosaki, he had not once actually brought about the death of any of them. He may have gravely wounded them, but he never once actually delivered the death to any of them.

A while had past since Aizen fled Seretei. With the time frame Aizen had stole the Hogyoku, he should have the seal on it broken by Winter, which all-in-all, was not very close, but it also wasn't very far away. However, Ronnin didn't think it would take Aizen as long as it should to brake the seal, and Ronnin was betting on it happening sooner than that as well. So he was treating every day of training like it was the last training session he and his Royal Guard would have to prepare for the battle.

Yet through all this madness, Ronnin couldn't help but remember the words he spoke to Aizen the day he was told he would live to die another day, the claim he was no longer sure he could fallow through with... _"I will get stronger, I will fight you again, but I will not die, I will prevail over you, surpass you, and kill you!"_


	26. DisplayReplay

_Chapter 25: Display-Replay_

"It's almost time everyone..." Ronnin told the Royal Guard. Although still quite a while from the suspected time it would take Aizen to unseal the Hogyoku, Ronnin knew better.

"So this is it huh?" Seiko asked, his voice filed with anticipation and some fear.

"The struggle we've fought for will come to an end." Terra stated, slightly dreading the fact it really could end.

"After so long..." Keade began, reminiscing over all they've been though.

"No, if you ask me it hasn't been nearly long enough." Aura cut in, unable to withstand the fact it would all stop here.

"Our greatest challenge." Shouta declared, almost sounding like he was looking forward to the event.

"Who could have guessed?" Hikaru wondered, thinking about how lucky all of them were to have been chosen as Ronnin's Royal Guard.

"You know, standing here together... Kind of feels like anything is possible." Rin thought, but unable to even convince himself that was fact.

"If only that were true." Akane disagreed sadly, yet with a chuckle in her voice, almost mocking how sad it was.

"It's so amazing it's depressing." Leith said, feeling both overwhelmed and displeased at the same time.

"I really wish we could just stay like this, together forever you know?" Xun said, not wanting the battle to come, although there was no stopping it.

"We've all known this day was coming though." Ken said, masking his true feelings behind that statement.

"I haven't been here as long as the rest of you, but I know I feel just as strong as you all do, and I'm proud for the time I've spent here." Kirio told the others, a tear rolling down her eye as she did.

At the same time, in Karakura Town, or rather it's empty replica, Aizen faced the Captains of the 13 Court Guard Squads. "Stark, Barragan, Halibel, come." Aizen ordered, and three Garganta opened up around him, and out of them came the top 3 Espada and their Fraccion. "If Karakura Town is in Soul Society, then I'll simply kill you all here, and make the Oken in Soul Society." Aizen proclaimed as the final showdown between Aizen and the 13 Court Guard Squads began.

"Now then, Karakura Town has been replaced with a replica by Urahara." Ronnin informed his Guard. "Meaning that we won't be able to see how the battle between Aizen and the Court Guard Squads turns out, but we will know what happened if Aizen appears in Karakura Town, or if Karakura Town is returned and the captains are still alive."

"Be honest Ronnin, you don't believe a word you just said." Seiko noted.

"You already realize that there is no way that the captains can win, and we know it too." Terra told him.

"Lying to yourself can only bring hurt when that lie is crushed Ronnin, you of all people should know that." Keade stated.

"It's not... that I'm lying to myself." Ronnin began. "But rather, it's just that I'm hoping... hoping for a miracle." Ronnin declared as he faced his Guard.

"What kind of miracle could possibly stop Aizen from reaching here?" Aura asked.

"The one thing Aizen has seemed so intent on nurturing..." Ronnin answered. "The miracle I'm hoping for goes by a name, and that name is... Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Ichigo Kurosaki?" Xun repeated in question.

"Hee, I like it." Ken grinned with his remark.

"Well then, I'll place my bet with this "miracle" as well." Kirio decided.

"We all will, we'll put our faith with him." Akane proclaimed.

"If Aizen has been nurturing this miracle, then he must be good." Leith thought.

"We'll pray for his victory!" Shouta shouted.

"Believe that he can complete the task." Hikaru told everyone.

"We'll put our trust..." Aura said.

"Put our hearts..." Keade continued.

"Put our bodies..." Terra proceeded.

"Put our beings..." Seiko remarked.

"And the whole of our souls..." Ronnin began.

"And hope that Ichigo Kurosaki can pull off the miracle of an eternity!" All thirteen of them said together as they watching the real Karakura Town, waiting for any sign that the battle was over.

So much time past that no one in the Royal Guard knew just how long they had sat in waiting for something to happen in Karakura Town, in which all the citizen's were asleep and it was now in Soul Society to be kept safe from Aizen. All of them had their hearts beating so fast they felt like they could drop dead of a heart attack if it got any faster. They could all feel the nervous sweating dropping down their faces in anticipation of what will happen. Their eyes watching so intently as to catch the first glimpse of anything that happened.

And then at last, something did happen, but it wasn't at all what they expected to happen. One of the humans in Karakura Town woke up! "Why was I sleeping here?" The human asked himself. Then, something else happened, and it was what they dreaded so very much... Aizen and Gin appeared in Karakura Town.

"No, it can't be!" Aura said, but actually wasn't referring to Aizen getting to Karakura Town, but rather his new form, one where he had fused with the Hogyoku, and become an even stronger being that he was before.

"He, did it..." Ronnin stuttered. "He actually tapped into the Hogyoku's true power."

"It's true power, I thought it was just a bridge between Shinigami and Hollow?" Seiko asked, shocked.

"That's all it was intended to do, but it ended up having an even greater power." Ronnin explained. "The power to grant anyone's true desire."

"So, Aizen is now..." Terra began, but didn't want to finish the question.

"If I know Aizen at all, he is now something that has surpassed Shinigami and Hollow." Ronnin told the others. "Now, I guess all we can do is wait."

"Indeed... A sight unfitting for Soul Society, this is the last we'll see of it." Aizen said as he and Gin walked through, but Aizen did not yet destroy the town.

Then, as they walked through the town, another human walked around a corner, somehow having awoken. "Hey, you there. I'm glad someone else is awake. Do you have any idea of what is going on here?" He asked, but he was asking the worse possible person.

"Don't come near me." Aizen told the man, and as he walked by him, the man disintegrated into nothing, completely crushed by Aizen's power. "A human with no awareness of reiatsu is unable to sense my power. But their body can't withstand it."

"Oh? Those kids over there seem to be awake." Gin pointed out as a couple of humans carrying others walked past them.

"Yes. I recall seeing them in Ulquiorra's eyes." Aizen said. "They are Ichigo Kurosaki's friends." And at the mention of Ichigo, the Royal Guard flinched, wondering if Aizen had actually beaten him before coming here, or if he was on his way.

Aizen then walked toward them, and suddenly the two were pressed under the weight of Aizen's reiatsu. "Who are those guys?" The girl asked herself, then fell to her knee under the pressure.

"Impressive." Aizen admitted. "You are this close to me, yet you are still able to maintain your existence."

"Who... are you?" The human asked.

Aizen waited for a moment then responded. "Ichigo Kurosaki will show up here for sure. With new powers, no doubt." And when he said that, it let the Royal Guard know that the miracle they placed their hopes in was not dead yet. "I want to bring those powers closer to perfection." Aizen stated, and it was just as Ronnin had thought, Aizen was testing Ichigo Kurosaki, for what purposes he still wasn't entirely sure, even though Aizen said it was to bring them closer to perfection, that couldn't be the whole story. "Your deaths will help that cause." Aizen told the humans, and pointed his sword at them.

"Run, Asano!" The girl shouted at the boy.

"Huh?" Asano was confused.

"Get going!" The girl ordered. "Or is there something you can do here?" She yelled at him, and Asano ran away as told, and Gin was about to follow.

"Don't bother chasing after him." Aizen told Gin, who obeyed. "I'll start with this one first." He said, and prepared to kill the girl.

But then, another human appeared behind them, and shot a fireball at Aizen. "You seem to be in distress, girl." The man stated. "At times like this, you should call for a hero. Spirits are always with you! Thank you for waiting viewers! Your Don Kanonji! My Don Kanonji! Everyone's Don Kanonji is back! I have returned!" The man shouted. and everyone looked confused and almost appalled by his entrance, and then Aizen emerged from the smoke, not even a scratch on him.

"And who might you be?" He asked the man.

"You don't know me? Such an ignorant boy! Don't watch much television, do you?" The man spouted. "Fine! Then I will tell you my name. I am the one an only..."

"What'd you come here for, Don Kanonji?" The girl interrupted.

"No! I was about to do my own special introduction! How cruel can you be girl? So cruel!" The man argued.

"For your own good, go on home." The girl replied with an annoyed look on her face. "There's nothing you can do here." She told him, and then Aizen raised his reiatsu to be noticed.

"I believe you're at the limit of withstanding my reiatsu. Or rather... I should compliment you for withstanding it this long." Aizen told Don Kanonji.

"Listen to me! Run away right now! There's nothing you can do!" The girl shouted at the man.

"Run?" The man questioned. "Is that something to say to this hero? Ignorant girl. I'll have you know, children do not call a hero that runs away a 'hero'!" He said then charged a small attack, and fired it at Aizen, but it didn't even reach him, then pulled out a cane and charged at Aizen.

"Stop it. If a mere human like you touches me, you will cease to exist." Aizen warned, and then, just before that happened, a hand reached out to stop him. It was the hand of a Shinigami, Rangiku Mansumoto.

"I made it in time. Aizen, Gin." She said.

"Rangiku." Gin replied simply.


	27. The Miracle Ichigo Kurosaki

_Chapter 26: The Miracle Ichigo Kurosaki_

After Rangiku appeared on the scene, Don Kanonji went into a frenzy wondering who she was and why she was in a dangerous place like this. Rangiku told them to run, but Kanonji just got upset that she was ordering him around, but after yelling at him, Kanonji finally agreed to take the girls and run.

"By, 'Made it in time,' were you referring to saving those humans?" Aizen asked Rangiku. "Or were you referring to me destroying Karakura Town and creating the Oken? Well, either way you were wrong." He said, but Rangiku did not reply. "What's the matter? Do you find it hard to talk to me?"

"Captain Aizen, please forgive my former acquaintance." Gin said. "I'll take her away."

"I don't mind, I have time. Your welcome to talk at length with her there." Aizen replied.

"But we would be in your way." Gin said.

"Not at all." Aizen protested, yet still Gin ran off, taking Rangiku with him far away.

Gin went on to ask why Rangiku had come here in her condition, and Rangiku replied it was because of him. "Finally, I can ask you directly. Why did you decide to work under Aizen?" She asked Gin. "Why did you betray Kira, who trusted you?"

Gin frowned at her question and responded as if unable to comprehend the meaning of the question, asking if she was really talking about Izuru. Then he walked up to her and set a finger on Rangiku's necklace, then suddenly his zanpakuto was at her throat, and he claimed she was a nuisance, finishing her, then hurrying back to Aizen.

At that time, Aizen caught up to the humans, who had added two more to their number. They called the boy Mizuiro, and the girl Chizuru.

"Are you thinking, 'How did he find us?'" Aizen asked the humans as he appeared in front of them. "You're mistaken, I merely stopped pretending to be searching for you." He informed them.

Then, the boy called Mizuiro tried attacking Aizen with a bottle and blowing him up, both of which proved ineffective. Then Asano turned and faced Aizen with a sword he took from a Shinigami, thinking it might be able to reach Aizen, and Don Kanonji stepped up to help him.

However, just then the Shinigami Asano took the sword from appeared and took it back, stepping into the battle himself, although once he realized who he was facing, he began shaking with fear.

"Good Morning, Tsuchinamazu!" The Shinigami called the name of his zanpakuto, releasing it into a gauntlet weapon with bells on it. He then punched the ground and made a rock cacoon around Aizen, and told everyone to run away as he did so himself.

Aizen moved the rocks out of his way and then Gin finally caught up with him. "I have returned, Captain Aizen."

"You're back. What about the women?" Aizen asked.

"I killed her." Gin replied.

"Indeed, her reiatsu has disappeared." Aizen said to confirm her death. "I'm surprised, I thought you had a little more affection for her."

"Affection?" Gin repeated. "I don't have any such thing. I told you the first time I met you; I'm a snake, my skin is cold, I have no heart. I use my tongue to find my prey as I slither on the ground, and engulf what I like whole. That's the sort of creature that I am. Isn't that what I told you?" Gin finished, and then the humans realized they shouldn't be standing around here and began to run for it again.

"My, my, I've grown tired of chasing mice." Aizen said as he watched them run.

"What will you do with them after you kill them?" Gin asked.

"I'll string their corpse up somewhere on the outskirts of town where they'll be seen easily, then get to work on creating the Oken." Aizen replied, holding out his sword.

"Sounds good to me," Gin said, and reached out to touch Aizen's blade. "In that case... I'll handle killing those kids." He told Aizen.

"Gin..." Aizen said, feeling something wrong.

Gin didn't reply, but instead used his zanpakuto to run strait through Aizen's chest, very much to the Royal Guards surprise who were still watching and waiting for Aizen to finish making the Oken, but hoping for Ichigo Kurosaki to appear before it happened.

"W-wait a second, that's not an illusion Aizen's making right?" Aura asked frantically, but saw from their faces it was no illusion.

"The only way to escape the power of Kyoka Suigetsu is to touch its blade, before it puts you under Complete Hypnosis." Gin said, not realizing he had just given the Royal Guard the most necessary key they would have needed to defeat him. "It took me decades just to get that single fact from you. Not a single person among the Thirteen Court Guard Squads knew that, but they all thought they could kill you, Captain Aizen. Watching them made me very nervous." He said as he shrunk he sword back to normal size, and Aizen staggered back while bleeding from his chest. "The only one who can kill you is me, Captain Aizen."

"I knew that." Aizen said. "I brought you with me knowing what your objective was, because I was interested in how you would try to kill me. But I'm disappointed, Gin. Did you really think you could kill me with something like this?" He inquired.

"No I didn't." Gin replied immediately. "Can you see this? There's a chip here." Gin pointed out on his sword. "Just now, I left that chip inside your body, Captain Aizen." He explained, surprising even Aizen. "My Bankai's power, I told you about it before right? Sorry, I lied. It doesn't extend as long as I said. It doesn't extend as fast as I said. However, when it extends and contracts, it turns to dust for just an instant. Also, inside the blade, there is a powerful poison that dissolves and destroys cells." He explained, and Aizen looked angry. "Looks like you understand. When I contracted my sword from your chest, a single ship of my blade didn't turn to dust and was left inside your heart. If your going to say something you'd better do it fast. Well, even if you try, you're going to die anyway." He said with the upmost confidence, and set a finger on Aizen's chest. "Kill 'em, Kamishininoyari."

"Gin... dang you!" Aizen said.

"You'll die with a whole in your heart, isn't that what you wanted?" Gin inquired as he bankai began ripping Aizen apart.

Then Gin reached out and grabbed the Hogyoku, and in a last desperate measure, Aizen threw his arm at him and cut up his arm a bit, but Gin jumped back and got away with the Hogyoku in hand.

As the Royal Guard watched this, they couldn't believe their eyes, Aizen actually died by the hands of someone other than Ronnin or their miracle Ichigo. Gin looked at his wounded arm then at the Hogyoku, believing it to be over until Aizen's Reiatsu suddenly picked back up despite the hole in his chest, and he began to change form.

Aizen's new form gave him wings like that of a butterfly. "I win... Gin." He said. "Even without being inside of me, that Hogyoku you took... belongs to me." He said, and vanished from his position to reappear around the Hogyoku in Gin's hand, and he attacked Gin, slashing him across the chest.

In one last desperate attempt to win, Gin reached out his hand for the Hogyoku, but Aizen ripped his arm off for trying, then stabbed Gin through his heart. "Evolution requires fear." Aizen said suddenly. "The fear that, in your current state, you could die and disappear at any moment. Thank you Gin. Thank to you, I have finally become a being that transcends both Hollow and Shinigami." Aizen told Gin before appearing to the Humans again, and just his presence knocked them all unconscious. And Rangiku appeared, and once she saw Gin dying, she fell over him and wept.

And then, someone new appeared on the scene. Although his physical appearance was considerably different from when Ronnin and Aura saw him while he was fighting the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. And none of the other Royal Guard members had ever seen him, they all knew instantly who it was. It was the person they had been waiting on to deliver their miracle. The person Aizen had been waiting on to test for reasons unknown... Ichigo Kurosaki.

After he appeared, he set the man he was carrying down on the ground. "Thanks, Dad." Ichigo said to the unconscious man. "Good, Yuzu and Karin seem to be okay." He said after looking off to the distance. "Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, Honsho, Kanonji..." Ichigo said as he looked at each of his friends, then looked over at the Shinigami. "Imoyama." He said.

"Who?" The Shinigami asked, as Ichigo was nowhere near getting his name right. "I'm Kurumadani! Zennosuke Kurumadani! If you can't remember, at least be honest about it! Don't name people on your perceptions!"

"Everyone, stay where you are." Ichigo instructed his friends. "Stay still, right where you are.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Aizen said to get his attention. "Are you really, Ichigo Kurosaki?" He asked the puzzling question.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked.

"If you really are Ichigo Kurosaki... then you're a disappointment." Aizen stated. "I don't feel any reiatsu from you now. Even if you're suppressing your Reiatsu, there's no way that I wouldn't notice it at all. You failed to evolve. You let the final chance I gave you slip away. It's unfortunate, Ichigo/"

"Aizen," Ichigo interrupted. "Let's do this elsewhere. I don't want to fight here."

"A meaningless suggestion." Aizen retorted. "Those are words only someone with the power to give me a challenge has the right to say. There's no need to worry. There will be no need to destroy Karakura Town. You will..." Aizen began, but in an instant Ichigo suddenly grabbed Aizen's face and jumped completely out of Karakura Town and far out of the outskirts of it, to where he wasn't even relatively close to the Town. He had gone so far that Ronnin's Reiatsu cameras weren't able to even see a glimpse of them wherever they had gone, but a moment later a mountain in the distance was destroyed to signify them battling.

But a bigger problem was presented just now. Just before Ichigo moved Aizen away so he couldn't do harm to the town, he had spoken specific words that made absolutely no sense for his goal of reaching this dimension. _"There will be no need to destroy Karakura Town. You will..." _What was Aizen about to say? What kind of reason could Ichigo have presented in his appearance that made the destruction of Karakura Town no longer necessary?


	28. Crisis Averted For Now

_Chapter 27: Crisis Averted... For Now_

Since Ichigo Kurosaki moved his and Aizen's battle far away from Karakura Town, Ronnin and the Royal Guard could not see what was happening in the battle, but some occurrences were large enough to tell something big had happened. And something big did. After a while a sudden burst in Aizen's Reiatsu flared up into the sky, which must signify that he was going through another transformation, then soon after a huge explosion occurred, the blast force even being felt by the humans in Karakura Town.

Soon after this happened another extreme burst of Reiatsu occurred, but this one wasn't of Aizen, it was Ichigo's Reiatsu. "Amazing, Ichigo Kurosaki is doing that?" Keade questioned. "I can't believe that a human could have gotten so much power.

Soon after Keade asked this question, a wave of black Reiatsu flowed across the distance, and all the Royal Guard felt it as an ominous power. Many minutes past and nothing seemed to happen, and then the dark clouds all over cleared away. "Is it... over?" Seiko asked.

"But who won? Who's attack was that just now anyways? Aizen's or Ichigo's?" Terra wondered.

"We'll just have to wait and see..." Ronnin told them.

And in fact, it appeared that Ichigo had been the victor, as he and Kisuke Urahara walked into Karakura Town again with a strange cross-shaped object, which Ronnin realized was a sealing kido that must have been used on Aizen.

Kirio sighed with relief. "It's over, it's actually over." She said, but then looked back at Ronnin and saw from his expression that he didn't think so.

"No, it's not Kirio." Ronnin said. "Aizen isn't dead, he's just been sealed. He will be held by Seretei but trust me, Aizen will get out someday, stronger than we could even begin to imagine."

"It'll be our worst nightmare." Ken said.

"Yea, and because of that, the regular training sessions I've been giving you all aren't going to cut it anymore." Ronnin said.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Akane asked.

Ronnin sighed. "Something I thought I would never have to do..." Ronnin said, and pulled out his cross-dimensional orb. "...I'll have to leave this dimension." Ronnin finished, with a strong tone of dread in his voice.

He activated his cross-dimensional orb and it grew around all of the Royal Guard members and himself, then shrunk down and vanished along with them, and they reappeared in Hueco Mundo. "Ronnin, why are we in Hueco Mundo?" Leith asked.

"Like I said, your regular training sessions won't cut it anymore. So from now on we will have to fight Hollows here, it will be more dangerous of course, but it will also strengthen us more than our training sessions, and faster." Ronnin explained.

"Well if we're looking for strong Hollows, shouldn't we go to Las Noches, the strongest Arrancars are there." Xun said.

"How that's true, I want to stay as far away from anything related to Aizen as possible, so we'll have to make due." Ronnin told him.

"I understand," Xun replied.

"While we're here though I have a few extra rules I want you all to fallow as much as you can. First off I don't want you using shikai or bankai unless you really need to, that way you practice restraint and gain strength faster." Ronnin told them. "The second one may sound a bit strange, but while we're here I want you all to wear your Hollow masks at all times."

"What, wear our Hollow masks?" Hikaru repeated.

"That's not even possible Ronnin, you know we can only keep our Hollow masks on for a limited amount of time." Rin argued. "Some of us can keep it on for days at a time sure, but they still break after a while, and they break even faster if your fighting during that time!"

"I know, but I don't intend for us to stay here 24/7." Ronnin said. "We train here by day, and rest back in my dimension at night."

"R-right," Rin replied, not having meant to yell like that.

"The only question is, just how much time do you think we really have until Aizen makes his reappearance?" Shouta asked.

"I'm worried we have very little time before he resurfaces, which is why we can't waste a single moment with training. Let's meet back here in 6 hours, we'll head back to my dimension then." Ronnin told them all, and they put their Hollow masks on and shunpoed in different directions to find and fight Hollow.

Fighting off the discomfort of being outside the safe haven of his dimension, as well as any Hollow he ran into, Ronnin was finding it slightly difficult to stay focused, his discomfort only being increased knowing the fact Aizen had once ruled over this place with an iron fist and an Espada army. He tried telling himself that Aizen was no longer here to calm him down, but it was to no avail, and really his discomfort only grew every time he thought those words...


	29. What Makes it Worthwhile

_Chapter 28: What Make it Worthwhile_

Ken swung his blade down on the hollow and killed it, watching it fade away. As per Ronnin's instructions, Ken had his hollow mask on and was not using shikai. However, Ken was not enjoying this training they had to do at all. Not because it was difficult, but rather because it wasn't difficult. Ken was the kind of person who enjoyed the rush given to him by battle, but because of how strong he had become as part of the Royal Guard, there wasn't a hollow her, even an Adjuchas level one that could survive a single stroke of his sword.

Ken sighed as he killed another hollow. "_This isn't training, everything here's too weak to even be called 'targets'. I know how Ronnin feels, but if we want any sort of power gain before Aizen comes, we need to go to Las Noches._" He said to himself.

Suddenly though, Ken felt an unusual reiatsu come closer at an astounding speed. then a person appeared in front of him. "Talking pretty high and mighty there, ain't you?" The girl said to Ken, apparently having overheard him.

Ken took a moment to examine the girl that had appeared before him. She had long black hair she put back in two ponytails on the back of her head, and wore a tight white shirt and shorts with black lining along matching gloves and boots. It was obvious that she was an Arrancar from the zanpakuto she had at her waist partial hollow mask that started just above her nose and spread out over her forehead, going back over her had a bit in three spikes.

"_Who are you?_" Ken asked the Arrancar.

The girl smiled broadly at Ken's question. "You want to know my name? Alright then, listen carefully. My name is Elvira." The Arrancar told Ken.

"_Your reiatsu is pretty strong, you might just make my day worthwhile._" Ken told Elvira and shunpoed behind her quickly, swinging his sword down on her.

However, Elvira put her hand above her and Ken blade was stopped. But rather than it being caught, Elvira somehow kept the blade from even reaching her, stopping it inches from her hand. "Well that was pretty rude, you weren't planning on even giving me time to prepare for your attack." Elvira noted. "If you were against a normal opponent, you would have killed them, how do you expect to make your day worthwhile if you do that?"

Ken jumped back before responding. "_If you were a regular opponent I wouldn't have done that, I wanted to test out your base power quickly, that was what I came up with._" Ken explained.

"Don't you think your underestimating me a bit?" Elvira asked. "That right there was nowhere near 'base power'." She told Ken, then used Sonido. and appeared right in front of Ken, and suddenly Ken was forced backward.

"_Wha-_" Ken said as he hit one of the trees. Ken stood up quickly, but when he looked up Elvira was gone.

"Huh, how come you didn't get hurt from that?" Ken heard Elvira and looked to see her standing on the side of the tree as if it were the ground.

"_Don't take me for a fool, I saw your attack coming just in time. You concentrated your reiatsu in your hand and shot it off at me, but to cancel out the damage all I needed to do was concentrate my own reiatsu at the spot you were about to strike. That's also how you stopped my zanpakuto before it hit you and how you standing on the side of that tree right now._" Ken said.

"Well, you're pretty observant aren't you? And better than I thought you would be." Elvira said with a grin.

"_Enough talk, back to business._" Ken said, and swung his sword back at Elvira, but she didn't even budge and concentrated her reiatsu at her shoulder, stopping the blade before it hit her.

"Oh, I just realized that I forgot to ask your name after telling you my own." Elvira said.

"_It's Ken._" Ken told her.

"Ken huh? Fit's a guy like you." Elvira said and concentrated her reiatsu in her hand, then shot it at Ken, but he shunpoed back to avoid it.

"_I was told not to use shikai unless I absolutely had to, but this is getting to be too much fun to hold back._" Ken said and held up his zanpakuto.

"Hey now the way you phrased that you made it sound like you didn't need to use shikai to beat me." Elvira commented.

"_Maybe I don't; Zen'/_" Ken started, but then cut off as if realizing something, then put his zanpakuto down. "_Sorry, I may be willing to use shikai against orders, but I'm not about to miss a deadline._" Ken told Elvira and shunpoed off.

"Huh, he's gone." Elvira stated the obvious fact to herself. "Oh well, better go back/" Elvira said but cut herself off. "Although they won't be happy." She noted.

Ken arrived last of the Royal Guard. "_Your late Ken._" Ronnin said, still wearing his hollow mask like everyone else.

"_Sorry Ronnin, but I ran into an interesting Arrancar, couldn't help myself you know._" Ken replied.

"_Arrancar?_" Xun said."_And one that you became interested in at that. And here I thought this would be a waste of time._"

"_Shall we head back now?_" Ronnin asked and transported them all back to his dimension.

"I'm back!" Elvira shouted into the large cavern-like area as she entered, and someone immediately proceeded to punch her on the head from the side.

"That kind of sentence shouldn't have any need to be said here!" The man yelled at Elvira. "I can't believe you, putting yourself and more importantly everyone else at risk of discovery like that!"

Elvira stood strait and tried to pretend the punch didn't hurt. "Hit me all you want Custodio, it was totally worth it." Elvira told the man.

Custodio had wavy brown hair and wore clothing similar to Elvira, a tight white shirt and baggy pants that had black lining. He was also an Arrancar, having a zanpakuto on his side and a partial mask that cover his eyes kind of like goggles, short points coming down at the bottom of each eye.

"You say it was worth it even though the one you fought wasn't even one of stronger reiatsu that appeared?" Another person inquired, hidden in darkness.

"The opponent isn't what made it worth it." Elvira replied.

"Then what did make it worth it?" Custodio asked.

"Being able to fight knowing my opponent planned to kill me. That's not a feeling I can get down here, fighting you guys." Elvira told them with a trigger-happy kind of grin on her face.

"I suppose you're right about that." The other voice admitted. "I assume you'll leave again if you feel that reiatsu again huh?"

"You shouldn't even have to ask." Elvira replied.

Ronnin and the Royal guard removed their hollow masks after arriving in his dimension again. Ronnin had expected them to just disperse without thinking, but because of what happened to Ken, everyone seemed to look at him expecting a report on what happened. After all Ken did say it had interested him, something like that must have been strong.

Noticing this, Ken sat and began. "Well we didn't fight for all that long, had to get back before long, but the girl was quite strong." he told them. "She had a knack for precise reiatsu control, using her reiatsu as her main form of combat."

"I'm glad you found an opponent that could satisfy you Ken." Ronnin said.

"The girl herself wasn't want made it so good. Unlike fighting against you Ronnin, I could feel her killing intent directed at me with power of its own, that's what really satisfied me." Ken told everyone.

The next day Ronnin and the Royal Guard went back to Hueco Mundo and separated after putting on their hollow masks. Ken went back to the area he had fought Elvira and looked around. "_I'm sure she'll notice me..._" Ken said to himself, and sure enough, after a minute or two he felt Elvira's reiatsu approaching.

This time however, rather than appearing in front of him, she came up behind Ken with an already in motion kick to the side of his head. To block, Ken pulled out his zanpakuto and put it in the way of the kick, stopping Elvira's attack. "Consider that payback." Elvira told Ken, then Sonidoed back a bit.

"_I believe we have unfinished business._" Ken said to Elvira. "_But first..._" Ken said and sighed. "_I am going to get in so much trouble for doing this._" Ken said and moved his hand over his face, removing his hollow mask. "You said you weren't using power anywhere near base power, if I used my hollow mask this wouldn't be any fun." Ken said.

Elvira seemed surprised as she looked at Ken's face, but then grinned. "Didn't I also tell you that you were underestimating me a bit?" She said, but grinned all the same.

Ken and Elvira looked at each other with the exact same look on their faces. A look that told the other that they were planning to kill the other if given the chance, because like they told their comrades, that's what makes it all worthwhile.


	30. Negetive No

_Chapter 29: Negative No._

Ken charged at Elvira and swung his sword down on her, but Elvira put her hand up and used her reiatsu to stop it. Then she gathered reiatsu in her other hand and thrust it toward Ken, who jumped up to avoid it and jabbed down at Elvira, who this time used Sonido to get out of the way and appeared behind Ken, kicking him. Ken swung his sword back and struck Elvira's foot, but she was not cut. Elvira jumped off of Ken's blade and landed on the ground.

"You didn't block with your reiatsu that time but you still weren't cut, for a feat like that you must be a Vasto Lorde." Ken said.

"Don't insult me, you make it sound like that's the limit of my power. Have you heard of the Espada?" Elvira asked, making Ken step back.

"Yeah I've heard of them, but last I heard they were all defeated." Ken replied.

"Did I say I was an Espada? No, I'm just giving you a weak example for my level of power." Elvira replied and Sonidoed above Ken, faster than before, and drop kicked him.

When the drop kick hit, a sudden explosion of reiatsu covered the area they were in for miles around. Although after the attack past, Elvira found that Ken was not there anymore. Elvira however didn't appear worried as she simply scanned the area a moment without any sort of haste, then saw him standing next to one of the far trees.

"Now _that_ was base power." Elvira told Ken.

"Powerful indeed, you really do have the strength of an Espada." Ken replied.

"Once again I'll have to tell you to stop making such assumptions. I told you Espada level was a _weak_ example of my power." Elvira corrected Ken.

"Honestly, I wanted to get you to draw your zanpakuto before I did this but..." Ken started, then put his zanpakuto up. "Strike back, Zen'nonoha." Ken shouted the name of his zanpakuto and it released into shikai, becoming two blades, one huge buster blade and one thin and curved blade.

"Oh, so that's your zanpakuto huh? What can it do?" Elvira asked.

"Why not just fight it and find out." Ken said, then shunpoed to the side of Elvira and swung the buster blade down on top of Elvira.

Elvira held her hand up and concentrated her reiatsu to try and block it, but shockingly, Ken's zanpakuto smashed strait through her reiatsu block and cut into her hand, through her tough skin. However, the blade had lost so much momentum for hitting the reiatsu block it couldn't do any more. Ken swung the curved sword at Elvira from the side, but she Sonidoed back and out of the way.

"No way, you cut me?" Elvira was shocked at Ken's power just from going to shikai. It was ridiculous enough that he broke through her reiatsu block, but to have still have enough power behind his swing to cut through her skin was astounding.

"That's just a taste of the power my zanpakuto has. One blade is heavy and meant for strikes from above where gravity can only increase it's force. The other is thin to make swift and deadly strikes." Ken said.

After a second Elvira's shocked expression turned into one of enjoyment. "You said you hadn't wanted to release your shikai unless I drew my blade right?" Elvira asked, then drew her zanpakuto and pointed it toward Ken. "Well I hope this satisfies you too, I won't be able to continue very well without my sword." She told him, and the two entered a stare-down, each one waiting for the other to make the next move.

Ken surveyed the area for a moment, then looked at the tree beside him, and grinned. He raised his buster blade, and Elvira thought he was about to shunpo up to her again. But instead, Ken swung his sword as hard as he could at the tree beside him, and it was completely severed, and began falling toward Elvira.

Elvira didn't even attempt to get out of the way. "What kind of tactic is this?" She asked, then gathered reiatsu at the focus of her sword, and swung it up, releasing the reiatsu and sending it in a shockwave at the tree as it fell, not just slitting it, but slicing it into hundreds and maybe thousands of giant chunks falling to the ground.

"I'll show you," Ken told Elvira and shunpoed up into the falling tree chunks, and Elvira followed suit.

The two of them just seemed to be chasing each other while jumping up from one tree piece to the next going higher and higher. "What are you planning?" Elvira asked, not seeing the point of what he was doing.

"I said I'd show you didn't I?" Ken replied, and then a tree piece fell between the two of them, and after it fell past, Ken was gone, although his buster blade was left behind.

Elvira completely lost track of Ken this time and looked around frantically until she looked up and saw him swinging his thin blade with incredible speed at her. She made an attempt to put her sword up to block the strike, but it was just to sudden and fast for that, and it hit her just below her shoulder and sent her flying down to the ground.

After she hit the ground, she looked up and saw that she was now right in the way of Ken's falling buster blade. "Not a chance!" She yelled and focused her reiatsu in her sword, swinging it and using the reiatsu to knock the buster blade to the side and miss her.

Ken then shunpoed in front of the buster blade and caught it with one hand, with a very pleased look on his face. "This really is quite fun, but it appears you can't take on my shikai even with your zanpakuto out." Ken bragged, but then Elvira's reiatsu increased exponentially, and she stood up.

"Haven't seen a tactic quite like that before, caught me off guard there. And you cut my shirt a bit." Elvira said, referring to when she was struck in the shoulder by Ken's thin blade. "Weren't you wondering how I could say I was stronger than the Espada but not be one of them? Let me show you the proof that says I'm stronger..." She said, ripping off the shoulder of her shirt, and revealing what was hidden under it.

The tattoo on her shoulder underneath was the number; **-3**. The tattoo was just like the ones each Espada had on them somewhere to signify their power. The lower the number, the stronger they were. if Elvira's -3 applied to the same standing, that made her three ranks stronger than the 0th Espada. However, it also meant that their must be at least two others stronger than the Espada Aizen had recruited, and most likely plenty others that ranked even stronger than Elvira herself.

"Think of us as secret Espada." Elvira told Ken. "We lie in the deepest depths of Hueco Mundo, where no one can reach us."

"No one can reach, meaning no one can fight you unless you come out?" Ken asked. "Sounds awfully familiar."

"Yeah, and technically no one wants me leaving, they say I might lose the key to get in and some random hollow might pick it up." Elvira replied.

"So why did you leave?" Ken asked.

"Oh, it was something about a bunch of especially powerful reiatsu popping up out nowhere the other day." Elvira answered, telling Ken it was because of him and the others she decided to come out of hiding.

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment. But really, I'd much rather get back to enjoying this battle before I have to leave." Ken said.

"Me too, I'm glad to see revealing my rank hasn't discouraged you any. Here I come!" Elvira said, then vanished in Sonido, and Ken actually lost sight of her for a moment, then she appeared beside him, and kicked him in the gut, sending him flying.

"What the-" Ken said, completely taken by surprise from the sudden power surge she exerted all of a sudden. Ken hooked his curved blade onto the branch of one of the trees as he flew past it, and swung himself around it, jumping back at Elvira, although once he had she was already gone. "Huh!" Ken exclaimed as Elvira appeared right in front of, swinging her sword at him, but Ken managed to get his thin blade in the way just in time to block, but he was still pushed back by the sheer force of it.

"That's good, keep it coming!" Ken bid Elvira on and raised his own reiatsu by a great extent, then swung his broad sword down on the ground, destroying the landscape and creating a cloud of dust and rubble.

"I won't fall for this trick a second time." Elvira said as she scanned the area, waiting for Ken's next attack.

Suddenly, Elvira saw Ken's broad sword fly through the dust, and she quickly reacted to block it with her blade and let it fall to the ground. Although when it hit the ground it crashed down, making a creator where she stood. Surprised by how much force was in a falling blade, Elvira tried to pick the blade up herself, but was unable to make it even budge.

"How on earth does he lift this thing, let alone use it in battle?" Elvira asked, but then Ken shunpoed up behind her without any warning, and slashed Elvira's back. however, the blade did not cut her skin. After she was struck Elvira jumped back and turned to Ken.

"I told you already that blade was heavy and meant for blows from above, it's extremely heavy and the only person who can hold it up is me. But that also means two things, the first thing is that I can drop it and don't need to worry about my opponent using it themselves. And the second thing it means is..." Ken was suddenly behind Elvira, although she couldn't even see that he moved in the first place, even though she was standing right in front of him. "...That my speed gets increased exponentially." Ken said and swung his thin sword down on her shoulder.

Elvira however did not move, and the blade was unable to cut her, then she grabbed Ken's blade before he got away. "It's too bad though, it looks like speed isn't enough to cut my skin. Now enough play time, it's high time we finished this." Elvira said, and then the both of them raised their reiatsu for a moment, then vanished.

The two of them began going so fast only flashes would be visible if others were watching. The both of them were perfectly matched at their current levels of power, neither one was getting a definite strike against the other. After awhile of this continuing, the two of them stopped, facing each other and breathing heavily.

"Take this!" Both of them screamed at each other and ran forward, ready to strike for a kill.

However, before the two reached each other, Ken bent down and picked up his broad sword and set his thin blade down, preparing to strike her with the big one instead. Elvira realized this sword had the power to cut her, but that didn't make her slow down in the slightest, and they both swung their weapons at their opponent.

But then, to both their surprise, a figure appeared between them and caught Ken's blade, while letting Elvira's blade just hit his back. "Uh, Custodio!" Elvira called his name in surprise. "What are you doing out, you don't even want me out."

"Custodio, that your name? What do you think you're doing stopping this fight?" Ken asked the man.

"Elvira, we all need to talk about something important. If it wasn't urgent, I wouldn't have stepped in just yet." Custodio said, though completely ignoring Ken.

"How urgent are we talking?" Elvira asked.

"Aizen urgent." Custodio said, and then Ken became flustered, taking his broad sword and swinging it at Custodio, however, he just put his arm up and stopped it completely, not even a scratch.

"How do you know Aizen? What are you: 'Secret Espada' up to?" Ken asked, demanding an answer with his tone.

"I do not have to answer to you... member of the Royal Guard." Custodio told Ken and took off the glove on his right hand, showing his palm to Ken, revealing his rank to be **-5**, a full 2 ranks above Elvira, but more shockingly telling him that he had full knowledge of who he was, which also seemed to surprise Elvira.

"Royal Guard?" Elvira questioned. "Sorry about this, we'll have to have our battle come to a close early again today. But now that I know who you are; you can guarantee we will meet again." Elvira said, then she and Custodio vanished with Sonido.

Ken began shaking, only now realizing just what he got himself, and more importantly Ronnin involved in with this one battle, and that it all connected to Aizen all over again.


	31. The Signal

_Chapter 30: The Signal_

Elvira and Custodio walked into the cavern-like area the Negative Espada hid themselves, the place no one other than them could enter. "There you are, I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever get back." A young boy said as the two walked in. "What happened to you, are those Royal Guard people really all that?" He asked Elvira, who was still injured from her fight with Ken.

The boy wore the same kind of white clothing as the other Negative Espada and had a short sword on his waist and his partial hollow mask on the left side of his face had a sort of crescent moon shape to it that went behind his ear, and had a point coming out of it below the ear stopping at the corner of his eye, he also had a cloth attached to his mask that covered his left cheek..

"Hee, don't try sounding all high and mighty, Bartolomé." Elvira warned. "I'd like to see you take any one of them on without your zanpakuto!"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see won't we? Since we've received the signal at last." Bartolomé said, and he and Elvira exchanged glares until Custodio knocked them both on the head to make them stop.

"Fight later, first we need to figure out what we're going to do." Custodio told them.

"Isn't it obvious?" Another Arrancar asked as she walked up to them. "We kill the Royal Guard." The Arrancar had a tight shirt with no sleeves and left her abdomen uncovered, which bared her rank, **-4**. She had yellow eyes and long black hair, and her skin was actually quite pale, and her broken hollow mask was left with the entire lower jaw, with sharp fangs positioned just below her lips.

"Well, yes that is a given, but the signal was not originally planned to tell us to attack the Royal Guard, Beatriz." Custodio said. "We were originally supposed to receive the signal as a go sign to attack Karakura Town when and if all the Espada topside died."

"However, the whole point of attacking Karakura Town was to get to the Soul King and his Royal Guard, who are now here in Hueco Mundo. So, if our ultimate goal, the Royal Guard and the Soul King are here, there's no need to head to Karakura Town." Beatriz noted.

"Well, I guess you have a point there. But there's also the problem that Aizen is no longer present here himself, and he was the one who was supposed to kill the Soul King, so that still leaves the question of what to do with him after killing the Royal Guard off." Custodio added.

"Let's just figure that out when we get there." Beatriz answered. "I've been waiting for the chance to get out of this hole too long. I should have followed Elvira's lead and left at the first sense of their reiatsu."

Custodio sighed. "Very well, go nuts against the Royal Guard." He said.

"Oh believe me, I intend to." Beatriz replied, then used Sonido to leave.

Before heading back to Hueco Mundo, Ronnin and the Royal Guard needed to talk about the negative Espada and their connection to Aizen. "The Espada Aizen did use were strong enough, the Captains from Seretei were almost overcome by them." Ronnin said.

"And the third weakest of the negatives was able to hold equal ground against me in shikai, these guys are definitely no pushovers." Ken added.

"So what do we do, are we going back to Hueco Mundo?" Kirio asked.

"Of course we are." Ken blurted out without thinking.

"He's not wrong though..." Rin agreed. "These negative Espada are connected to Aizen and knew we were the Royal Guard. If they realize we've hidden ourselves back here, they may end up targeting Karakura Town to make the Oken again."

"They might even try to free Aizen if they need to." Hikaru added, making everyone shutter.

"We need to go," Ronnin said, agreeing. "Like Hikaru said, they might try and free Aizen. If they are as strong as we think, they would turn Soul Society into a wasteland overnight. In order to prevent that sort of tragedy from occurring, we have no choice but to go to Hueco Mundo, then find and defeat the negative Espada." He told everyone.

"No matter how you look at it, it's just not a situation we can turn our backs on." Terra stated.

"Alright then, since we're gonna' do this, let's go." Akane said.

"Right," Ronnin replied and transported them all to Hueco Mundo. "If you see any of the negative Espada, don't hesitate, strike immediately." He told everyone.

"Don't need to tell us twice." Rin replied and everyone shunpoed off in separate directions.

"Ah, there's the Royal Guard." Beatriz said aloud to herself as she sensed the Royal Guard enter Hueco Mundo. "Now let's see, which one should I go for?" She asked herself and inhaled deeply, then gave a smirk. "Now that one has an interesting taste." Beatriz said and Sonidoed toward her chosen victim.

Akane was running along with her sword already poised to attack when needed. It was then she felt a very strong reiatsu begin to approach, and she knew immediately it must belong to one of the negative Espada. Akane froze and concentrated, waiting.

"Alright, show me what the Royal Guard is all about!" Beatriz shouted as she appeared in mid attack on Akane. and jabbed her hand at her.

Suddenly however, Akane vanished from sight and reappeared behind Beatriz slashing her, aiming for the heart. However, Akane's blade was unable to cut the Arrancar's tough Hierro, and she escaped unscratched.

The two of them each distanced themselves from each other and faced one another. "So what your name, Royal Guard?" The Arrancar asked with a great smile on her face.

"Akane," Akane answered.

"Quite a pleasure, I'm number negative four, Beatriz." Beatriz said in reply as she motioned to the number on her abdomen.

"-4 huh, Ken said the one he fought had been -3, meaning you are strong than that one correct?" Akane questioned.

"That's right." Beatriz answered and then inhaled. "Alright then, show me what you're really made of." Beatriz told Akane and ran up at her, jabbing toward her with her hand.

Akane reacted and blocked with her sword, then pushed Beatriz back and slashed her shoulder, but once again she emerged without a scratch. Beatriz jumped and swung a kick at Akane, but she black and swung down on her again, but was once again unable to inflict any damage. When Beatriz tried to attack again, Akane shunpoed back out of the way.

"Hee, what's wrong, Royal Guard, can't even scratch me without using shikai can you? Go ahead, do it!" Beatriz encouraged.

Akane stayed still for a moment and then raised her free hand, pointing toward Beatriz. "Hado #4: Byakurai." She said, and a flash of lightning flew at Beatriz, hitting her before she even had a chance to react.

Ken once again returned to the spot he fought with Elvira the day before, which was still quite destroyed from that battle. As he expected, a few moments later he felt Elvira's reiatsu moving toward him, and then she appeared.

Elvira had healed all her wounds but had left her -3 number uncovered. As if she had been hiding it but now there was no point. "Hello again." Elvira said.

"I'd return your greeting but..." Ken started, then shunpoed behind Elvira and slashed he, but she turned quickly and grabbed the sword with her bare hand. "...I was told to attack without hesitation." He told Elvira, who held up her free hand and shot a pulse of reiatsu at Ken, but he jumped up to avoid it.

"How's about we pick up where we left off?" Ken asked, holding up his zanpakuto.

Elvira gave a sinister smile. "Sounds like a plan." She said, and put her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Strike back, Zen'nonoha!" Ken said at the same time Elvira drew her blade, and immediately the two charged at each other.

Ken swung at Elvira with his heavy blade once he was close enough, and knowing the extent of its destructive force, Elvira jumped over it while at the same time swinging her sword at Ken's neck. But suddenly Ken's quick sword was blocking her own, almost like it came out of nowhere.

Suddenly Elvira heard a crash behind her, and instinctively looked back to see what it was. But somehow when she turned around she saw Ken again, and only then noticed she was falling forward from Ken moving. Ken swung his quick blade at her back, hitting her, but unable to wound her. Elvira then realized Ken wasn't holding his heavy blade, meaning the crash she heard was most likely it.

"Haven't we already found out that only your heavy blade can get past my Hierro?" She asked then jumped at Ken slashing him, but the very second her sword would have cut him, he vanished from sight. "What?"

"Up here!" Elvira heard Ken call from above, and he was actually standing on the roof of the Menos Forest.

Ken jumped of the roof and speed like a bullet toward Elvira. "You don't listen well do you!" Elvira yelled and put her hand up to receive the attack, which came only a second later.

Much to Elvira's surprise, the blade managed to cut deep into her hand and began pushing her back. As a reflex she jumped back away from Ken, if she had move a instant later her whole arm might have been cut in two.

"Don't underestimate how much power can be built by speed." Ken warned Elvira.

"I see, then perhaps it's time I show you my real power." Elvira said with a wide grin as she held her blade to the side, and slowly raised her reiatsu.

Next Elvira's reiatsu seemed to be wrapping around her sword, and it could even be seen spreading across it and expanding to making it larger and longer. Soon Elvira's blade was 3 times its original size and was the bright yellow of her reiatsu. "If you thought I'd be a challenge before... just wait." Elvira warned Ken, whose expression was one of being dumbfounded.

Akane smile at her successful hit on Beatriz with her kido, but her smile quickly turned into surprise as the dust surrounding Beatriz cleared and it was revealed she had not been hit, but she was swallowing the kido. Or it could be more accurately described as inhaling it, and once she had finished she looked back at Akane with a grin that made her look purely insane.

"Just what it is...?" Beatriz asked, but Akane did not understand the question. "What is it about your reiatsu that makes it so damn tasty!" Beatriz screamed at Akane and charged toward her to continue the battle she was enjoying so very much.


	32. Blood Connection

_Chapter 31: Blood Connection_

Beatriz kicked Akane to the side and laughed to herself with an insane grin on her face. "Come on, Royal Guard! Show me what you've really got!" She taunted Akane as she stood up.

"Fine, you asked for it." Akane said and held her hand up. "Hado #32: Okasen," Akane called, and a large beam of yellow energy shoot from her hand at Beatriz. But instead of dodging Beatriz opened her mouth and inhaled, absorbing the kido made of reiatsu into her body, only to have Akane shunpo behind her before she had finished. "You're open," She said and swung her sword at Beatriz back, whose eyes opened wide on impulse.

But it wasn't enough, Akane's sword was not enough to cut through Beatriz's Hierro. Akane's eyes widened in surprise, and then Beatriz exhaled pleasurably, then quickly turned around to punch Akane away.

Beatriz laughed more. "This is great, just great! I don't know what it is about you that separate you from the others, but I can't get enough of your reiatsu, it's just so GOOD!" She screamed with joy. "Maybe after I beat you I can keep you around just for a taste of that reiatsu whenever I feel like it."

"Don't hold your breath." Akane said after standing up again. "Sting and slash, Dokukama," Akane said, and she released her shikai, the purple and black poison tipped scythe.

Akane shunpoed right up in front of Beatriz and swung her scythe around at her back. But then Beatriz turned and put her arm up to stop the attack, and the scythe cut down into her arm, after which Beatriz made a hasty retreat using Sonido.

Beatriz saw Akane crack a victorious grin, but she just smiled back. "Don't get so excited, it's just a single cut. Don't think you'll be getting a second." Beatriz told Akane.

"That Sonido just now, was that your top speed?" Akane asked out of the blue.

Beatriz narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What-"

"Because if its even close to your top speed, I won't a have a problem landing a second hit." Akane said, then used Shunpo at a speed so fast Beatriz completely lost sight of her. "Something wrong?" Beatriz heard Akane's voice from behind just a moment before her scythe came down on her back, knocking her forward as well as giving her a wide gash on her back. "If you couldn't even follow that much, this battle won't last much longer. I mean in only two strikes your time's been reduced to about 23 minutes."

"What do you mean 23 minutes?" Beatriz asked with a smile as she stood up.

"That's how long it will take for my zanpakuto's poison to kill you." Akane answered plainly. "My zanpakuto is 'Dokukama', if I cut my enemy with it, a poison spreads through your body from the cut, once it spreads through your whole body/"

"That's not what I meant." Beatriz interrupted, and Akane's narrowed her eyes skeptically. "I noticed your poison in my blood the moment you cut me, but that doesn't mean anything to me."

"What do you mean?"

"My ability allows me to absorb my enemies reiatsu, which at the same time allows me to infer something about my opponents power level and abilities; however, my power is not so cut and dry as just that."

"What's your point?"

"Answer me this, what are all shinigami's zanpakuto's abilities powered by?" Beatriz asked, and realization showed on Akane's face. "Exactly, reiatsu. I can even absorb the reiatsu used to charge my opponents abilities and as such can nullify them completely. Your poison is not in my bloodstream anymore!"

**Not good**_, _Akane thought.** I can't keep this up for to long, or my zanpakuto will take its toll on me. Better finish this up with my speed then.**

"Alright then, its time I got serious." Beatriz said and pulled her sword from its sheath. "Now let me taste more of that reiatsu that's so damn good!"

"You want it? fine then!" Akane told her and shunpoed even faster than that last time.

But this time Beatriz smiled and held her sword above her, which then received Akane's scythe as she tried to strike her head. "Earlier, it wasn't that I couldn't follow your movements. They just exceeded what I expected after tasting your reiatsu." Beatriz told Akane, then suddenly vanished from Akane's sight with Sonido and appeared behind her. "I just hope that wasn't **your** full speed!" She said and swung her sword at Akane.

Akane twisted her body around just in time to block the attack only to have Beatriz use Sonido again before Akane got her eyes back on her. And the next thing Akane knew she was being cut in the arm from the side, and then kicked in the side.

Beatriz grinned and held her sword in front of her. "Ah, blood, so rich in reiatsu. in fact the blood on my sword right now has a larger concentration of reiatsu than your zanpakuto's poison did." She said with a giggle, then inhaled that concentrated reiatsu she was talking about from Akane's blood.

Akane narrowed her eyes and stood up. "I guess your speed isn't that bad." She said. "So how about we both cut the acts and take it to the max." Beatriz smiled widely at those words.

Akane used Shunpo and Beatriz used Sonido at such speeds it almost appeared as if the two clashed with each other in seven different spot at the same time. after this freighting fast battle did the two fighters reappear standing with their backs to each other, standing in the spot their opponent started.

A thin cut appeared across Akane's cheek, and at the same time a very similar cut appeared on Beatriz's shoulder. After noticing these cuts, both Akane and Beatriz turned around and swung their weapons at each other violently, clashing once again.

Akane grimaced. **Dang, I've never been in a fight this difficult before, my zanpakuto is taking it's toll on me quicker than usual.**

"Something wrong?" Beatriz asked. "I can taste it in your reiatsu, your getting weaker the longer this battle goes on." She said, making Akane scowl.

Kirio stopped and looked over in the direction Akane was. "Akane's not fairing too well on her own. If she keeps going like she is she'll die." She said, and then turned to go help her but then stopped and turned around taking out her zanpakuto. "Come out." She said.

"So you noticed me even though I was concealing my reiatsu huh? Maybe you will be somewhat of a challenge." A young boy said as he came out from behind a tree. "My name is Bartolomé, I'm number negative one." The boy told Kirio.

"Negative one, that makes you the weakest of the negative Espada right?" Kirio noted.

"'Negative Espada', is that what your calling us?" Bartolomé asked with discontent. "If your going to call our group something, call us by what we call ourselves: we are the 'Navaja'." He told her.

"The Navaja huh?"

"I'm already bored of talking with you, so let's just get this over with." Bartolomé said and vanished using Sonido and appeared behind Kirio.

But he was apparently too slow, because Kirio quickly used Shunpo and caught Bartolomé off guard as she appeared behind him, swinging her sword down on his shoulder. But he jumped out of the way and turned to her.

"Your a bit slow there, also, you didn't let me introduce myself. I'm Kirio Hikifune."

"I don't really care who you are, the result is all the same. You're going to die here." Bartolomé said and got in a fighting position.

Ken took a moment to examine Elvira's blade. "With the way you used your reiatsu to cover your sword, I'd almost say you released a shikai." He told Elvira.

"Are you dense?" Elvira laughed her question. "I didn't coat my sword in just plain reiatsu."

Ken looked confused. "Then what is it?"

Elvira held up her zanpakuto and pointed it at Ken, and then a small orb of the energy surrounding the blade condensed in front of it. "It's Cero," She said, and Ken went wide eyed at the moment the cero was fired at him.

In that moment he had only barely managed to get out of the way of the Cero she fired off the tip of her blade. "I realized you had expert reiatsu control, but to be able to manipulate the form of a Cero, that's something else." He told Elvira.

"I know, I'm the only person within the Navaja, and within all of Hueco Mundo that can do such a thing." Elvira bragged. "So like i said, if you thought I was hard before, just wait."

Beatriz and Akane pushed back on each others blades with their own, a contest of strength instead of speed. "Come on, Royal Guard, if you don't do something fast your gonna' drop right? I can taste unconsciousness creeping up on you." Beatriz said to Akane, and even though she was probably being sarcastic, she wasn't wrong.

If Akane didn't finish this up quickly she wouldn't even be able to move, much less fight. "Fine, you want it you got it." Akane said and the small razor blades around the edge of Akane's scythe began spinning around the main blade like a chainsaw, pushing back on Beatriz's sword until it got right above her shoulder. "Take this!" Akane shouted and shot her scythe down past Beatriz's blade.

In response, Beatriz tried to jump back, but was hit too quickly by the scythe and was knocked back onto the ground, a large gash across her chest. If Akane's poison was in effect, with that attack Beatriz would have less than 10 minute left until she died. But because she neutralized it by absorbing the reiatsu used to make the poison, it didn't have any effect on her.

Beatriz stood up smiling again. "That's it, cut me up all you want, all it does is make me happier I chose to fight you!" She shouted with joy as she charged at Akane again.

Akane was starting to breathe heavily. "I swear, I'll make you regret those words."

During all the fights, Custodio had stayed inside the Navaja's hiding place when another one of the Navaja's walked up behind him. "Aren't you going to join the fighting?" He asked.

"I'm not the type to go looking for battle, you know that. I'll go in when I'm needed." Custodio answered. "What about you, aren't you excited about getting to fight?

"Yeah I am," The other Navaja said with a chuckle. "I was waiting for Bartolomé to go in first. Make him show some backbone since he hasn't had a real fight since..." He started, but did not finish his statement.

"I guess your right, it's a good thing for him to have a real fight. It will teach him to face his weakness." Custodio agreed.

"Well I'll be going, see ya' later." The other Navaja said and Sonidoed out of the cave to find an opponent.

Outside the cave, the Navaja ran around and found the closest member of the Royal Guard to his location. "I guess that makes you the guy I'm looking for?" Xun asked the Arrancar that appeared before him.

"That's right, I'm Navaja number **-2**, Alvaro." The Navaja replied. Alvaro had red hair he sleek back in a spike that ended at the base of his neck and had some stubble. He wore a tight shirt that wrapped tightly around his muscles, showing how strong he was that had a square hole at the middle of his back that showed his number. "What's your name?" He asked.

"Xun Dotto, please to make you my enemy." Xun answered and drew his zanpakuto, facing Alvaro who got in a kung-fu fighting stance, and taunted Xun to bring it on.


	33. Brute Speed

_Chapter 32: Brute Speed_

Ken and Elvira crossed blades. Ken used his heavy blade to swing against Elvira's 'cero blade', but the Cero was so powerful that it started pushing Ken back. Ken stabbed his quick blade toward Elvira but then she fired of a cero from the base of her sword that got in the way, and then she jumped back.

"You won't be able to lay a hand on me anymore; I can block you from every angle with my cero." Elvira told Ken.

Ken examined Elvira and her blade, trying to find some kind of gap in the ability. Then he saw it and shunpoed to Elvira's side and swung his heavy blade up at her. Elvira responded by swinging her cero sword toward him and then fired a cero from the sword in between them to stop Ken.

But then Ken shunpoed as if he was expecting as much and appeared on Elvira's other side, a little behind her and stabbed his heavy blade forward. Elvira moved her sword toward him and fired another cero to get in his way, but once again he used shunpo. This time he appeared in front of Elvira and slashed her from the side with again his heavy blade, but once again Elvira swung her sword a bit and blocked with a cero.

Finally Ken shunpoed back away from Elvira. "There, see, every angle you attack from I can block it." She said, but Ken grinned in remark.

"Not quite, I already know the flaw in your cero sword." Ken said.

"What," Elvira wondered.

"Its range is not quite as perfect as you lead me to believe. I purposefully attacked you with my heavy blade there from the one angle your cero wouldn't be able to reach without going through you, as I guessed you would; you moved your sword so the angle of the cero could block me without incinerating you in the process." Ken explained, and Elvira took a step back in surprise. "You can manipulate the form of cero, but if you fire it off in the regular beam, it has to go strait. As I thought, speed is still the best way to go in this battle." Ken said and dropped his heavy blade and used shunpo.

Akane's battle with Beatriz had turned into a full speed contest. Both of them swinging their weapons at each other and clashing, the instances one cut the other were rare, but constant.

The two stopped attacking. "This is going nowhere," Akane whispered to herself.

However, Beatriz in contrast continued to smile in satisfaction. "Come on, Royal Guard; try to cut me up some more! Let me feel that great reiatsu of yours!" She screamed at Akane. Akane used Shunpo and appeared right in front of Beatriz swinging her scythe at her. But then Beatriz took her free hand and caught the blade, letting it cut up her hand. Beatriz breathed. "Yes, that's it. There is the reiatsu I love so much." She said and Akane jumped back.

However when Akane jumped away, she fell to her knee, worn out from fighting to long in shikai. _Dang, I've reached my limit. _She thought to herself.

"Oh, it looks like you out of juice now." Beatriz said, noticing Akane's condition. "I guess this battle's almost over huh? I'm a bit upset though, I never did figure out what was so great about your reiatsu." She said, then held up her hand and charged a blood red cero, ready to fire. "Despedida, Akane Shinku,"

Elvira fired a cero to her side as Ken appeared there, ready to attack holding only his speed sword so that he moves 5 times faster than normal. Ken vanished from her sight in an instant and appeared at her other side. He was too fast for her to shift her sword back into attack range, so she tried jumping back; but her arm had been cut before she could. And next Ken appeared in the way Elvira was trying to run and slashed her back with her sword, cutting her across her back and back down into the ground, adding to the damage.

Ken was playing with Elvira now, using Shunpo to look like he was in 10 places around her at once. "What's wrong, can't follow me anymore can you? Don't worry, it'll be over quickly now." Ken taunted Elvira.

"You're being a pest; I guess I'll just have to take your advice." Elvira said, and Ken was clueless as to this advice he gave her until she held her sword above her head. "You said this gave me an all-around attack angle right?" She asked and then charged not just one cero but eight around her sword, and fired them in all direction so there was almost nowhere for Ken to run. So instead Ken jumped and appeared above Elvira. "Got you!" Elvira shouted, having meant to get Ken up there and having another cero already charged and fired it strait at him, and it swallowed him up.

Elvira grinned, but then she heard Ken speak. "Don't look so happy." He said, and Elvira realized that her cero was being cut down the middle and averted past Ken. He was now holding his heavy blade instead of his quick sword.

Elvira had been so busy she didn't even notice Ken Shunpo down to his heavy blade, switch swords and Shunpo above her already knowing another cero was waiting. "What," Elvira said as Ken now cut his way through her cero down at her, and just before he made it to her she jumped back.

"Once you raised your sword it was a predictable tactic. Force me to go above so you can take me out there. Once I knew that all I needed was my heavy sword."

Elvira clicked her tongue. _This sucks even after I coated my zanpakuto with cero his beating me. I'm really going to have to do a Resurreccion? No, it's too soon to resort to that._ "I've still got another trick up my sleeve." Elvira said.

"Do you now? I'd love to see it." Ken replied.

"Then come and get it!" Elvira yelled, holding her sword to the side poised to attack.

Ken accepted her invitation immediately with Shunpo. Elvira kept her eye on the spot she couldn't guard with cero the way she held her sword, but instead he appeared right next to her sword and swung down his heavy blade. Ken expected Elvira to move her sword toward where he would have gone before, but instead she kept her sword steady and blocked his attack.

"I was counting on that." She told him. "Now for my last trick, you already know my sword is incased in a think shell of compressed cero. But I have to keep it suppressed with my reiatsu control ability, so think for a moment what would happen if I just… let it loose." Elvira said, and Ken went wide-eye as Elvira used Sonido to flee and left her sword behind.

The cero exploded. With so much of such a powerful attack compressed at one point, once the person holding it together had left it, it fell apart in every direction. It was expanding more than exploding, but the effect was the same. Everything around for miles was instantly decimated into a crater, and Elvira made sure to be just outside its blast radius.

But Ken could not say the same. He had been holding just his heavy sword, already making him slower than he normally would be, but with the surprise that came with it there was no way he could get all the way out of harms way in such a short time.

Once the cero bomb had past, Elvira used Sonido to return to her zanpakuto where she dropped it, only now it rested in a crater miles across, and Ken was nowhere to be seen. Elvira scanned the horizon for any sign of him at all. The only thing she saw was his quick blade sticking up from the ground, and she began to laugh in victory.

However her gloating was for only a moment, because she realized that if her attack had finished Ken off, she wouldn't see his shikai, maybe the sealed form, but certainly not the shikai. It was then Ken reappeared in front of his quick blade, still holding his heavy sword. He was heavily injured from the attack, but somehow he had managed to survive.

"That was close, huh?" Ken asked, sounding sarcastic, but his face was filled with a look of anger. "That was one powerful attack; I had to bring out my hollow mask to deflect enough of the blast to make it through." He said, his voice now matching the look in his eyes.

"So you're angry because I actually managed to get you near death, is that it?" Elvira posed this question because no matter what she did before, his voice never sounded so menacing.

"No, that's not it." Ken answered. "I could accept your base ability used reiatsu as a means of direct attack, there's nothing wrong with that. I thought it clever to make your attacks more powerful by coating your sword in cero, that was smart. I could even go with you using the cero beams as a means of defense so often, it was just necessary right?" Ken explained.

Elvira involuntarily took a step back, fear creeping into her from the way Ken spoke. "So what is it then?"

"It was using such a cheep trick as a cero bomb. Doing that abandoned the sense you were fighting with your strength. It was nothing but a lowly trick you used to try and escape farther combat, and when you did that you lost all the respect I had for you as a fighter." Ken told Elvira, who took another step back as he glared at her with anger. Ken picked up his quick blade and crossed his two blades in front of him. "This battle ends here… Ban-kai!" He shouted, and his reiatsu exploded around him, kicking up a cloud of dust. "Zen'nonotenrankainoha," Ken's voice echoed from the dust cloud.

"Bankai, so you're using it now? Fine, show me what your true power is like!" Elvira shouted.

"Where are you looking?" Elvira heard Ken's voice, only not from inside the dust cloud, instead it came from behind her, and by the time she looked back Ken's sword was already embedded in her left shoulder through the -3 tattoo that represented her rank as a Navaja. "You don't even deserve your rank."

"Wh-at…" Elvira squeezed out as she faced Ken's heartless eyes.

"Despedida, Akane Shinku." Beatriz said and fired the cero she held in her fingertips at Akane. Beatriz looked depressed, as if she wished the fight could have gone on longer. She ended the cero to look at Akane's lifeless body, but when she did, Akane was gone. "What the-"

"Sorry," Akane said and reappeared with Shunpo. "I can't afford to let you win." She said sounding and looking as if she had gotten her second wind.

Beatriz's smile returned. "Good, I don't want you to die that easily, let me enjoy this a bit more." She said and readied herself for Akane's next attack.

In response, Akane put her hand over her face. Slowly she moved her hand down her face and set in place a hollow mask. The mask form fitted her face, and had red marks tailing down from both eyeholes on it. Beatriz noticed a change and spike in Akane's reiatsu when she did this.

"Yes, your reiatsu is even better now. Bring it on; let me have a good taste of that reiatsu of yours!" She yelled.

And in the next second Akane vanished from sight. Her speed had spiked to such a great extent Beatriz couldn't have kept up if she knew it was coming. She went wide-eyed in amazement and wondered where she even went. "_Sorry,_" Beatriz heard Akane say from behind her, and looked back to see her holding her zanpakuto out to the side. "_You probably didn't even feel that._" Akane said, and almost as in a call, a gash opened wide on Beatriz's chest, blood spurting from it instantly as if trying to escape her body. It was an attack that would surely kill her.


	34. Blood Connection 2

_Chapter 33: Blood Connection 2_

"_Sorry, you probably didn't even feel that._" Akane said, and a gash opened up across Beatriz's chest, blood spurting from it like it was trying to escape her body. Beatriz fell to her knees and then face down on the ground. Akane took one more look at her fallen opponent and turned away to leave.

But then Akane heard something and looked back. Astounded, she saw Beatriz gripping her sword and trying to push herself back up with her other arm. "And just where… do you think you're going?" Beatriz coughed, severely wounded but not quite dead from Akane's attack. "You shouldn't have underestimated the thickness of my Hierro. And now I'll make sure you pay dearly." Beatriz said and pulled her to her feet. As she held up her zanpakuto, it became apparent what she was planning to do, but before Akane could do anything, Beatriz muttered aloud, "Feast, Matanza," And as she called out the name of her zanpakuto, her sword vanished and her body began to change.

Akane could only look as Beatriz's wound healed over. As part of the transformation, Beatriz's skin became even paler than it was before; or rather, it appeared to be coated by something white and thick. In addition to this, her fingernails grew out into sharp claws and the upper teeth of her hollow mask were restored. When the transformation was complete, she took a step forward in her true form.

"How do you like my true form?" Beatriz asked, but Akane seemed too shocked to answer. Upon not getting an answer, Beatriz frowned in disapproval. "Are you already so scared you can't speak? At least wait to see how much power I have before shaking in your boots. Come on, try cutting me now."

At this, Akane swung her zanpakuto at full force. Beatriz didn't move a muscle as the scythe came in contact with her arm, but it only barely managed to draw blood from underneath Beatriz's thick Hierro. "_Wh-at,_" Akane questioned.

Beatriz breathed deeply. "That settled it." She said and pulled the scythe's edge from her arm, and the small cut healed itself.

"_Instant regeneration?_" Akane inquired.

"Not quite," Beatriz said. "Absorbing my enemy's reiatsu is not the bulk of my true ability. No, it's what I do with that reiatsu that matters. The reiatsu I absorb from my enemies can be thence used to up my stats for a certain length of time. Things like my attack, my speed, my defense, and my regeneration can all be strengthened by this ability. And guess what, with all the reiatsu I've sapped from you over the course of this battle, I've now focused mostly on my defense, your zanpakuto won't be able to wound me anymore."

"_You want to bet!_" Akane yelled and Shunpoed behind Beatriz and swung her zanpakuto full speed.

Beatriz merely lifted her hand behind her and caught the scythe's blade without receiving so much as a scratch. Akane was shocked at both this and that Beatriz was now able to keep up with her speed. She said she focused mostly on her defense, but she still had enough left over to increase her speed to match her own.

"Told you," Beatriz remarked with a grin, turning around and kicking Akane backward into a tree.

Akane hit the tree hard and had the air knocked right out of her. After she hit the ground, she tried standing up again but found it difficult due to the side-effects of her zanpakuto. Even though using her hollow mask did allow her more time before the side-effects took place, using it so late in the game made a much less noticeable length of time.

Akane had meant to end this battle with her first strike after hollowfication, but it seems she really did underestimate her opponents Hierro and left the cut just shallow enough to survive. Akane got to her feet and found her mask had begun to crack.

"Oh, was that all you had? Pity," Beatriz said.

At this, Akane became frustrated and put her hand over her mask and used her reiatsu to repair it. "_Not yet,_" She said, and readied her weapon.

Beatriz put a pleased grin on her face. "But all means, try to cut me again. All things aside I still love the taste of your reiatsu."

Akane Shunpoed and appeared to Beatriz's left, but did not catch her the least bit off guard. Beatriz raised her arm and Akane's Scythe just skidded off. Akane appeared at Beatriz's other side and repeated the action, but it was to no avail; Beatriz blocked again and was left unscathed.

Akane repeated this process multiple times until her hollow mask cracked again, at which point she fell back in fright. _I can't keep this up much longer, if this drags on any longer I'll lose. But with that Hierro of hers how can I win? _Akane couldn't help but think the worst would happen.

"It looks like this is just about over. You can't wound me anymore, so I guess I should just end this. Don't worry though; I'll use my favorite method to kill you." Beatriz said.

Akane's mask cracked again and began to chip off. "_What might that be_?" Akane asked.

"It quite obvious if you look at the name of my zanpakuto, 'Matanza' is Spanish for 'bloodlust'. And remember what I told you before? Blood has such a rich quality of reiatsu in it." Beatriz told Akane and licked her lips, looking at her gourmet meal that was Akane. Akane's hollow mask fell of completely and she fell to her knee, completely exhausted from the effects of her zanpakuto, she was unable to fight any longer. "This time it's for keeps." Beatriz told Akane and walked up to her motionless body.

Beatriz opened her mouth, the top fangs of her hollow mask this time rose with her upper jaw. With one swift motion, Beatriz buried her teeth into Akane's shoulder, and began drinking her blood like vampire.

Akane grimaced at the pain, but was unable to do anything about it. She looked at Beatriz and saw her curl the ends of her mouth into a tantalizing smile at the taste of Akane's blood. But then, the scowl on Akane's face vanished, replaced by a victorious grin.

"And here I thought it was really over." She said, and used every last bit of her strength to move the spike on the end of her zanpakuto's hilt to her own wrist.

"What's that supposed to do?" Beatriz asked through her teeth. "Are you planning to poison your own blood so I drink it and get poisoned myself? That won't work; I'll just suck the reiatsu from the poison." She reminded Akane.

"That's not what I'm doing at all…" Akane said, and pricked her wrist with the spike. "Bankai," She whispered, and at the very word Beatriz leaped away from her meal out of fear something deadly was coming.

However, when Beatriz jumped away and took a look at Akane, her zanpakuto was gone. Akane however did not look as if she failed, but just pronounced the name of her Bankai. "Dokuchikama," She said, blood rushing from the prick on her wrist to form the shape of a scythe. Immediately, Beatriz understood everything.

Beatriz thought back to the very beginning, this whole fight she had asked the question: What makes Akane's reiatsu so good. She had faced many enemies before, but none of their reiatsu even came close to comparing with the pleasure she received from Akane's.

The name of her own zanpakuto was 'Matanza' meaning 'bloodlust'. The name of Akane's Bankai was literally translated into 'poison blood scythe'. Her zanpakuto became one with her body; it became a part of her very life. This was the connection to her reiatsu that set her apart from everyone else she had ever fought before.

But the more important problem was that if her blood was indeed her weapon, to use at will; the blood she digested from Akane was now a ticking time bomb. Even though it was an ability that required reiatsu to power, Beatriz could not possibly neutralize a Bankai itself in time for Akane's next attack. This one really was for keeps.

"It seems you've figured it all out on your own, so I hardly need to say it. But as a courtesy, I will give you one last statement… Farewell, Beatriz." Akane spoke her final words to her opponent and activated her attack.

The blood inside Beatriz's digestive system began to curdle and writhe as it searched for a way out. When one couldn't be found, the blood made its own exits. Spikes of blood erupted from Beatriz's body every which way and from every angle. Even if the attack itself didn't kill her, her ripped apart internal organs would be sure to finish her off.

With that, Beatriz fell to the ground and died, this time for good. Blood of both Beatriz and Akane spilled out onto the ground and absorbed into the sand. But even though victorious, Akane suddenly fell forward.

She tried to catch herself with her weapon, but when she stabbed its tip into the ground, she found it had sealed itself. Akane gasped at the sight, she and all other Shinigami understood what it meant when a zanpakuto sealed without its master's conscience: death was drawing near.

Akane began to cry, "I'm sorry, everyone." She whispered to herself, and with that… she collapsed.

From a distance, the change was still noticeable to every one of the Royal Guard members. While still in the middle of battle, Kirio's eyes went wide at the sense. "Akane!" She cried out into the distance, but nothing answered her cry, nothing ever would.


	35. Perfectionist

_Chapter 34: Perfectionist_

While in the middle of her fight, Kirio's eyes went wide and she looked away from her battle. "Akane!" She cried off into the distance, as she felt her friend's reiatsu fall near death.

Suddenly she was brought back to her battle when Bartolomé used Sonido to get right in front of her and swung his arm up at her. Taken by surprise Kirio tried to jump back, but was too slow and Bartolomé punched her backward. "Do you really think you have the time to be worried about others?" Bartolomé asked with an utterly bored expression across his face, as if this wasn't even worth the effort.

Kirio clenched her teeth. "It's only natural for me to be worried about my friend; you should also be worried about your own comrade who fell." She said, disapproving of Bartolomé's lax attitude when the reiatsu of his ally fell.

"The other Navaja are not my comrades." Bartolomé corrected Kirio. "I do not care for any one of their lives in the slightest, as they are all insignificant compared to me."

"Insignificant, how can you talk about them that way? Aren't they all stronger than you?" Kirio noted.

"Stronger perhaps, but even so, there isn't one among them all who can do me any harm."  
"What do you mean?"

"My ability is by far the most beneficial in battle of all the Navaja. Try and attack me using a few different methods, you'll see what I mean." Bartolomé told her.

Bartolomé used Sonido and appeared right in front of Kirio. Out of instinct, Kirio swung her sword at him. However, when her sword made contact with his arm, not even a scratch could be seen on his skin.

As a reflex, Kirio jumped back. Then she pointed a finger at him and called out, "Hado #4: Byakurai," And fired a blast of white lightning at Bartolomé; yet he didn't move and emerged without as much as a bruise.

"That is what I mean." Bartolomé said. "My ability is 'adaption'; whatever attack is thrown at me, my reiatsu can automatically change properties before the attack has even made contact and make me completely invisible to it. It doesn't even matter if someone is twice my strength; all attacks become null and void when used against me."

"You're saying it is impossible to wound you because you are able to form an absolute defense to whatever you're faced with?" Kirio confirmed.

"Correct, even if I were unable to beat an opponent, it would also be impossible for them to beat me." Bartolomé answered.

**Well, this might be difficult.** Kirio thought to herself. **Against an opponent that can't be injured by any form of attack, how do I go about winning? **It was at this thought Kirio was reminded of something she was once told by Akane when training with her after first joining the Royal Guard.

_"Even if your opponent has an ability that seems to grant them absolute victory, you have to remember that everyone has a weakness. However small, there isn't a person in the world whose technique or power doesn't have a loophole allowing for defeat. Your job is to analyze what that loophole and exploit the weakness to attain victory. To train, I want you to figure out a way to remove my poison from your body without forcing me to seal my zanpakuto."_

When given this training, it taught Kirio to be more vigilant in battle. With that in mind, Kirio thought back through her battle, trying to figure out what the 'loophole' in Bartolomé's reiatsu adaption was. Then suddenly it occurred to her.

"Of course," Kirio muttered and prepared to attack.

Noticing the confidence proclaimed in her stance, Bartolomé asked, "You think you've found a weakness in my ability don't you? Then I dare you to try." He said with a rather bored expression.

Taking on his challenge, Kirio held out her palm. "Hado # 33: Sokatsui," She called, and then a burst of blue fire erupted from her hand and shoot toward Bartolomé.

Not sure what she had planned, Bartolomé simply stood his ground and waited for the kido to strike him. But then Kirio used Shunpo to jump ahead of her kido and appear to Bartolomé's right. Apparently surprised by Kirio's tactic, Bartolomé jumped out of the way before she brought her sword down on him, afterward the kido she fired past by until it hit a tree behind.

"As I thought," Kirio said. "You may be able to adapt your reiatsu to defend yourself against any attack, but a natural law of adaption abilities are that in order to adapt to one kind of attack you reiatsu has to abandon the adaption of the last attack that hit you. Therefore, if you were to be struck by two different types of attacks at the same time, you would only be able to put your defense up for one of them, allowing the other attack to harm you." She explained.

Bartolomé stood up with a look that said 'you're an idiot.' "That's not true at all." He said in the same bored manner he had been speaking the whole battle. "I jumped away from you on an instinct everyone has to dodge an attack that surprises them. But I did not jump away because one of your two attacks would have harmed me if I hadn't."

"There's no point bluffing." Kirio said.

"It's not a bluff." Bartolomé insisted.

"Then you won't mind if I try it again!" Kirio shouted. "Sokatsui," She called out, firing another blue ball of fire at Bartolomé, and then used Shunpo again to get behind him. She swung her sword down on his back at just the right time and speed so that her sword and kido would impact at the same time. Even as Kirio's sword and Sokatsui approached, Bartolomé's expression did not change and both Kirio's attacks made contact. Kirio's blade did not cut Bartolomé's skin but the force of the kido caused him to lose balance slightly and step back to keep from falling.

Kirio grinned, but only for a moment as in the next on Bartolomé turned his head showing his bored expression yet again. "I told you it wasn't a bluff." He told Kirio, and swung his arm at Kirio which made her jump away to avoid the attack.

After that, Kirio started at Bartolomé with disbelief. He turned toward her and showed that despite taking two attacks at the same time, neither attack had dealt him any damage whatsoever.

"That's… impossible." Kirio muttered. There was no way an adaption ability could block two different types of attacks at the same time, it would have to give up supremacy over one of them in order to defend against the other.

"It's not impossible, all that happened was that my reiatsu adapted to both the slash of a sword and a kido attack." Bartolomé said.

"What?" Kirio asked, not understanding what he meant.

"It is not unreasonable for you to have thought that by attacking me with two different attacks one would be able to wound me by my having to choose which attack to adapt to. But my adaption does not work in that traditional way." Bartolomé explained. "Rather than adapting to each attack as it comes, any attack that comes at me my reiatsu is able to change its properties that make the attack impossible to wound me. Then as the next attack comes my reiatsu can change its properties in such a way that not only allow me to become immune to the current attack, but still give the immunity to the last attack that struck me, giving me immunity to both attacks at the same time, as well as allowing me to still become immune to any third type of attack that might be thrown at me."

"No way," Kirio said and stepped back in fear. **If that's the case then how on earth do I defeat him? No, I can't think like that, everyone has a weakness; I just have to keep trying until I find his. **With that thought in mind, Kirio ran at Bartolomé and cried out. "Steal and expunge, Penaruti." And her shikai was released into the twin gauntlets they were.

Where are you looking?" Elvira heard Ken's voice, only not from inside the dust cloud, instead it came from behind her, and by the time she looked back Ken's sword was already embedded in her left shoulder through the -3 tattoo that represented her rank as a Navaja. "You don't even deserve your rank

"Wh-at…" Elvira squeezed out as she faced Ken's heartless eyes. "What did you/" Elvira began again, but without any warning Ken pulled his sword from Elvira's shoulder and swung it down on her.

In reaction, Elvira jumped out of the way and turned back toward where Ken was only to then see that Ken was already gone. Then when she landed on the ground her back hit something, and she was instantly aware it was Ken, and as a reflex jumped away, but this time did not turn to him.

Ken began to speak. "How do you like it? This is the power of/"

"You should let people finish their questions." Elvira said with her back turned to Ken. Slowly she began to turn her face to Ken as she spoke. "What do you mean I don't deserve my rank?" She said, and as she turned her face she revealed an expression of mixed fear and hatred, both at their peek. Then Elvira held her zanpakuto above her head and stabbed it into the ground. "Complete it, Prueba." Elvira said the name of her zanpakuto in a low aggravated voice, and a small explosion occurred around her, hiding her in a cloud of sand.


	36. Climax

_Chapter 35: Climax_

"Complete it, Prueba. "Elvira said the name of her zanpakuto in a low aggravated voice, and a small explosion occurred around her, hiding her in a cloud of sand.

Within that cloud of sand, Elvira underwent her Resurreccion. Her reiatsu skyrocketed at the release of her true form. Ken squinted his eyes to try and see her new form.

It was then he saw one of Elvira's hand stretch from the dust cloud and with a single movement blow it all away from her. Her fingernails had stretched and developed an almost knife-like appearance. Her skin seemed to darken in a way that made her look older. Her black hair that was in ponytails had for some reason been given a rough cut at the base of her neck and she now had scars across her face. And to top it off her partial hollow mask had been partly restored so than edges now ran down the sides of her face and ended at the corners of her mouth, making it look strangely like an incomplete helmet.

This was Elvira's true form, and her true power was just about to be displayed. Elvira clutched both her hands as if trying to crush something, and then her reiatsu could be seen condensing. Immediately after, what was most likely her cero being concentrated into the form of a blade appeared in both her hands, giving her the look of a sword fighter one would expect to see in medieval fiction.

"So, what do you think of my true form?" Elvira asked with an expression saying this would no longer be a challenge. "Actually, don't answer that. I don't feel like hearing your freaking voice again." And at this comment, Elvira swung one of her two cero blades upward in Ken's direction. However, instead of creating some form of shockwave as one might have expected one to make after a mega power-up, Elvira actually stretched the end of her sword to accommodate the distance between her and Ken so that her blade would cut off his head.

Taken slightly by surprise it took Ken a second longer to respond; but he vanished from sight and Elvira's attack missed. However she did not look surprised in the slightest and knew for a fact Ken was already behind her, swinging his sword down with weight behind the attack.

As a defense, Elvira concentrated her reiatsu at her back to form a makeshift shield that almost perfectly block the attack, although the attack did crack it to the point a second strike would do more than break through it.

But Elvira didn't give Ken that chance, and turned quickly around and sword her second cero sword at him, forcing him to jump away. "Why you," Ken muttered as he made to attack again.

However before he could move Elvira had already jumped up to him. "I thought I said I didn't want to hear your voice again!" She screamed at Ken, sounding truly pissed off just because Ken had spoken.

Elvira swung one of her cero blades at Ken from the side. Ken reacted and swung his Bankai to block the attack. But then Elvira shrunk back her other blade and swung it at Ken's other side. Ken reacted Shunpoed away again.

_Dang it, she's not letting up for even a second. The moment I shift for speed she's already on top of me, but the moment I could counterattack using power she attacks me with her second blade, so I'm forced to make a hasty shift to speed just to dodge._ Ken thought this as he prepared to attack.

However, just as he expected, Elvira made a leap forward and swung down one of her cero blades on top of him, forcing him to block instead. Then Elvira stabbed her second sword at Ken, forcing him to retreat. _This is too much, I need to change strategies. Maybe instead of trying to go on an offensive, I should wait for her next attack and counter while I'm ready._ Ken thought this and held his ground. However this time Elvira made no attempt to attack. Immediately Ken realized that the plan he just came up with was the one she was already using. It wasn't that she was rushing around so fast in an attempt to hit him, but that she was focusing on when he was about to strike, and exploited the hole left open at that moment to strike herself.

"All of this… just from your Resurreccion?" Ken questioned.

"Please don't make me say it again." Elvira growled. "I don't want to hear your voice again!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and held up one of her cero blades and had it extend forward at Ken.

Ken instinctively jumped to the side and avoided it, but then had to Shunpo to the side as Elvira extended her second blade. It was only now Ken realized why Elvira seemed this much stronger. True a lot of it was from the Resurreccion; but now that he heard her say it a third time, he realized the reason she was doing so well all of a sudden was coming from her anger.

Because He had said she didn't deserve her rank she had become infuriated to such an extant it actually affected her overall performance in battle. However his realization brought forth a question. Why would the sentence- 'you don't deserve your rank' make her so angry when it came from an enemy? If it had been a comrade, it could be understandable, as a comrade should be able to understand the extant of her power. But from an enemy it was just a view from someone who hadn't seen her true power or even the strength of those ranked below or above her, so it shouldn't mean that much to her.

Ken spoke. "Why/"

"Shut up!" Elvira immediately screamed and swung both of her extended cero blades at Ken from both sides.

Then Ken Shunpoed up close to Elvira to get inside her attack, stabbing forward and making her have to jump back to dodge it and she shortened her blades again. However Ken didn't even waste a second to run forward at Elvira and swing his sword at her again, forcing her to block. And with this the two of them had been launched into a close combat sword fight where whichever one of them connected their attack first would be given the advantage.

"Why do you care so much about what I said?" Ken asked while continuing their battle as he swung his blade down, which Elvira put one of her swords up to block, then stabbed with the other; but then Ken brought down his sword quickly to push it away.

"Because," Elvira began as she blocked Ken's next strike. "Someone like you has no right to tell me I don't deserve my rank! You, who's been hiding away in a place no one can challenge him for most of his life while I've only had that luxury for a couple months is in no way position to tell me I'm not strong enough after everything I've been though!" Elvira swung down her two swords on Ken hard, but he put his Bankai up and held them back.

"That's not good enough." Ken said. "What do you mean 'everything you've been though'? Just what did you have to deal with that makes me someone who can't judge you?" He asked and pushed Elvira's blades away and Shunpoed behind her, slashing her from the side, but she swung her blades to hand at her side and block the attack, pushing him away.

"Because of my ability, I ended up with a constant wave of other hollows attacking me. And of course there was only one thing I could do, beat each and every one of them until no one challenged me." Elvira told Ken and stabbed forward with one of her cero blades, which he blocked and countered, but was also blocked. "I've had to spend my whole life in almost none-stop combat and a fight for my life while you've gotten to loft around as much as you want with no risk coming to you life. That right there is what I mean when I say someone like you doesn't have the right to judge someone like me." She said and pushed Ken away. _There isn't anyone with the right to judge me._

"I see, if that's the case, then I'll stop holding back." And at those words Elvira went wide-eyed. Ken positioned his free hand over his face and slowly dragged it down to put on his hollow mask. His mask was plain and had no sort of design on it at all. But somehow the simplicity of the mask made it seem more deadly as Ken's reiatsu rose. "_So then, are you ready for the climax of this battle to finally begin?_" Ken asked and raised his Bankai; making his final challenge to the first real opponent he'd had in centuries.

Where Akane had defeated Beatriz and then fell herself, Keade suddenly appeared in a rush to help her friend who had fallen so near death. Keade's kido was strongest of anyone in the Royal Guard, and could even compete with Ronnin's. Her healing Kido was even more so; if anyone could save Akane at this point- she could.

"Come on Akane, hang in there." Keade said and began the treatment, but had barely gotten started when a weak voice spoke to her.

"You're her companion right?" Keade was scared senseless at the voice but did not stop the healing process. She turned her head slowly in fear to the source of the voice, which is what had truly frightened her. Where there should have been a lifeless corps, Beatriz lied on the ground, holes in her body that should have easily killed her in a second; yet still she breathed and spoke. "Let me put your mind at ease there's no way I'll live though this." Beatriz assured Keade. "I'm just keeping myself alive by absorbing the leftover reiatsu in Akane's blood at a constant rate." She explained. "I was hoping one of you from the Royal Guard would come."

"W-why…" Keade breathed out.

"This may sound ridiculous coming from a hollow, but I've grown to respect Akane." Beatriz answered. "So I wanted to give you people of the Royal Guard a warning concerning your 'King'."

When Beatriz said this, Keade became even more paralyzed than before, almost breaking her focus on healing Akane. "What do you mean, a warning concerning Ronnin?"

"My ability allows me to absorb reiatsu and then from that reiatsu I can tell what kind of abilities my opponents use and what their adept at. But more than that I can get a feel for what a person is like based on their reiatsu." Beatriz explained. "When I was figuring out which one of you to attack, I took a sample of all your reiatsu, including your King. I just thought you might like to know what my first impression was."

"What are you talking about? Ronnin is a great person!" Keade argued.

"Is he really?" Beatriz questioned. "In all the time you've known him, has he ever been found to be hiding important information? Or perhaps seem to have a hidden agenda?" She asked.

"What makes you get that sort of impression?" Keade asked, avoiding the question.

"Because that's exactly the sort of impression I got when I first meet Sosuke Aizen. And your King's reiatsu had almost the exact same feel to it." Beatriz informed Keade.

Keade gasped at this view-changing information. Ronnin Jogi, the person she was willing to lay down her life for, was similar to Sosuke Aizen, their worst enemy.


	37. Points of View

_Chapter 36: Points of View_

"Because that's exactly the sort of impression I got when I first meet Sosuke Aizen. And your King's reiatsu has almost the exact same fell to it." Beatriz told Keade this, and saw her gasp from utter shock and disbelief. "Let me explain it to you, the time I first met Sosuke Aizen…"

_After becoming an Arrancar naturally, Beatriz wondered around Hueco Mundo's Menos Forest, searching for something to satisfy her hunger. Soon a Gillian level hollow found Beatriz and let out a roar. "Tch," Beatriz clicked her tongue with dissatisfaction._

_The Gillian opened its mouth and charged and fired a cero at Beatriz. Without even moving, Beatriz took the attack head on, but she wasn't injured. Instead she had opened her mouth and inhaled, absorbing the cero's reiatsu._

_Beatriz spat to the side. "Not even appetizing." She remarked and charged her own cero and fired it strait through the Gillian's head, killing it with ease. Beatriz continued walking with a scowl. "Isn't there anything in this freaking place with a tasty reiatsu?" She asked herself._

_Immediately as if to answer her question, a reiatsu crawled over her and into her mouth suddenly, and it was a strong one. "So you want strong opponents do you? What if I said I could make that happen?" A voice asked from behind._

_When Beatriz turned around, she saw a Shinigami walk in from a Garganta. "You're a little bit off. I said I wanted a tasty reiatsu, not a strong one." She told the Shinigami with a look of malice in her eyes, not simply because the person before her was a Shinigami but because of what she had tasted in his reiatsu. "Either way you've managed to interest me with your proposal; go on."_

"_I am Sosuke Aizen. I am researching your special type of transformation in which you have obtained the power of a Shinigami. Because you have obtained this power naturally, it makes you an invaluable resource to me." Aizen told Beatriz._

"_So what's your angle? There's no way someone like you doesn't have an angle." Beatriz said with a snicker, as if catching someone in their lie._

"_What do you mean? You can't really understand what I am like simply by looking at me."_

"_I can tell because your reiatsu has that king of dingy taste to it that makes me want to rinse out my mouth. I wouldn't get a taste like that unless you were the kind of person who always has a hidden agenda. The kind of agenda that in reality would make every soul in the universe turn on you." Beatriz stated._

"_Is that your ability? So am I to understand you don't wish to join me?"_

"_Why should I? Just because someone's strong doesn't make them tasty, and since I've already achieved the power you're researching you really have nothing to offer me." Beatriz said and began to walk away._

_However, before she had even taken two steps she, suddenly tasting two other powerful reiatsu entered the area. Or rather, they had only now allowed their reiatsu to be sensed. "Oh, Lord Aizen, I told you this one wasn't going to listen if you just walked up to her." One of two men who walked out from behind a tree said._

"_Gin, I thought I told you and Tosen not to come out." Aizen said._

"_Well she was right; you have nothing to offer her in return for her services. Since you like using persuasion, I felt it would just be easier if I came in and gave my incentive." Gin said and looked at Beatriz._

_Beatriz however smiled. "Now wait a second, just who are you?" She asked with a strangely gleeful tone._

"_Gin Ichimaru,"_

"_Gin Ichimaru…" Beatriz said and licked her lips. "And what exactly is this- 'incentive'- of yours?"_

"_What else? I plan to kill you if you decline." Gin said without removing the smile from his face while pulling out his zanpakuto and putting it in Beatriz's face._

_Beatriz chuckled. "There's no more need for that. I just got a pretty god reason for joining. If I could just learn what makes your reiatsu so tasty, that would be good enough for me."_

"_Oh, am I that good to you; what exactly is it that makes reiatsu 'tasty' anyways? I'm finding the thought hard to comprehend." Gin told Beatriz._

"_I find that people whose abilities are similar to that of my own are the tastiest. Because of that, I've always found someone's blood to be tantalizingly rich in reiatsu. That's my definition of 'tasty'."_

_Gin made a sarcastic frown as if disappointed yet still happy. "Oh, I don't have anything like that." He said and moved his blade to the side of Beatriz's face. "All I can do is this… Shoot to kill, Shinso." Gin said, and his zanpakuto's blade suddenly shot out past Beatriz, cutting her cheek slightly and hitting the ground behind her._

_Beatriz looked to her side at the blade's edge after this with nothing but a smile on her face, and then stuck her tongue out and licked the side of the blade. "I see, that's makes sense." She said surprisingly, opposing what Gin thought of the situation._

_Nonetheless Gin smiled at Beatriz's remark and sealed his zanpakuto. "So then, we have a deal?" Aizen asked._

_At the sound of Aizen's voice, Beatriz cringed, the horrid taste of his reiatsu coming back to her. "I really don't like you, not even including what I said earlier, there's just something about your reiatsu that just makes me want to cut out your heart- if you have one." Beatriz said this with the most pissed off expression. "But, there's something about this guy here that makes me…" She continued and looked back to Gin, smiling at his taste. "…Joyful. That's the word."_

While hearing Beatriz's story, Keade had more or less finished healing Akane. At least to a point the damage was no longer fatal, but she needed to get her to Ronnin and to safety before anything else happened. However after hearing Beatriz's details of Aizen, she was near her mental breaking point.

"And you're saying… that Ronnin is like that too?" Keade said, practically shaking in fear and sadness.

Beatriz was still managing to speak by keeping herself alive by constantly draining reiatsu found in Akane's blood pool around her. "That's right. I thought you ought to know. That cringing feeling I got from Aizen was brought back to me when I tasted your Soul King's. They're almost identical in flavor, almost identical in personalities most likely." Beatriz coughed; her life was obviously coming close to its end.

Keade couldn't help the tears coming from her eyes now. She just couldn't believe that Ronnin was like that. For so long now, she had trusted Ronnin and served him loyally. And yet now she was being told to be cautious of him because he may not be as noble as he pretends to be.

"I don't know the exact circumstances, but obviously you people put a lot of faith in your king. Just be careful from now on, okay." Beatriz told Keade with genuine worry.

Keade muffled through her tears. "Why… why are you telling me this?"

"I don't know." Beatriz answered. "I may be a hollow- making us enemies but- there's no one I wouldn't help, to kill Aizen. If your King is really like him… why shouldn't I?" Beatriz stated. "And you might want to keep this to yourself, if/" Beatriz started but was cut off by a sudden reiatsu pouring over her and Keade. "No way, why is he coming, not him, anyone but him!" Beatriz said, suddenly breaking into an expression of fear.

"What do you mean; who's coming?" Keade asked frantically.

"Run, you've got to run away now! There's no way you're going to be able to beat someone like him; you won't even compete!" Beatriz told Keade while raising her voice with urgency. "RUN AWAY NOW!" Beatriz screamed at Keade, but before Keade could do anything, a man appeared right next to Beatriz, who was suddenly stunned to the point of being unable to speak.

Beatriz shifted her head and looked up at the man now standing over her. "You shouldn't talk so much. In your condition, it's not healthy." The man said in a deep voice, and then raised his foot over Beatriz' head, and brought it down to crush it, killing her.

Keade couldn't believe what she just saw. From Akane's reaction, this man could only be one of her comrades; and yet he killed her off mercilessly.

"Don't look so shocked, she was going to die no matter what anyone did. Why prolong the inevitable?" The man asked Keade. He was very muscular and buzz-cut black hair. His sword hung over his back and his expression showed that he had almost no interest in being here. "And speaking of the inevitable, Beatriz did say you wouldn't even compete with me. Do us both a favor and let me crush you without a struggle then, alright?" The man said and then began to slowly walk up to Keade.

Out of instinct Keade jumped up and pulled out her sword. The man stopped as if surprised by Keade's declaration to fight. Keade stepped up in front of Akane's unconscious body to try and protect her. "I'm not going down without a fight."

The man sighed. "My goodness, I'm going to work up a sweat now aren't I? Very well, so be it." He said and prepared himself for battle by raising his reiatsu, and even though he still held the expression of not wanting to be here.


	38. Stalemate

_Chapter 37: Stalemate_

Alvaro and Xun ran along in the same direction and watched for each other's next attack. Xun held up his zanpakuto, already in its shikai: Junoha, and fired the twin guns at Alvaro.

However, just at that moment Alvaro ran past a tree, which the bullets Xun shot stuck into. "Hee, you've got to pay more attention to your surroundings if you plan to hit me with those toys of yours!" Alvaro shouted to Xun.

"I wasn't attempting to hit you that time actually. I was trying to make you reveal your weapon." Xun replied "Where exactly is your zanpakuto? An Arrancar's power is sealed in the shape of a sword right?"

This was true; Alvaro did not have a sword on him anywhere, unlike the other Navaja of his group. Xun was confused because if Alvaro was not in possession of his zanpakuto, that meant he could not use his true powers during this battle. Xun hardly believed he thought his power as it is was enough to completely dominate this battle. And even assuming he did, he would have at least brought it with him in case worse came to worse.

"Oh, right, thing is I actually don't have a zanpakuto." Alvaro said simply, as if it was natural, and Xun stared in disbelief. "No, it's true, out of all the Arrancar's that have ever come into existence, I am the only one's whose powers did not get sealed into the shape of a sword."

"Are you saying you are already at full power as well?" Xun asked.

"No, I still have a released state, but I don't need a sword to use it. Instead I just use my ability." Alvaro said and suddenly stopped, and Xun stopped with him. Alvaro then clapped his hands together as if in prayer. "Let me show you, this is my ability: 'Forjar'." Alvaro told Xun and then slowly pulled his hand apart.

As he pulled his hand away from each other, a small green mass of his reiatsu began to compress. After the mass became about 5 inches in diameter, it began to be given shape. And once that had been done, Alvaro grabbed two objects that then became completely solid objects, no longer simply reiatsu.

The objects he had made were curved knives, and without even a moment of hesitation, he threw them at Xun. Xun reacted immediately, pulling up both his guns and firing a single bullet from both, stopping the knives before they got near him. "So that's your ability?" He asked.

"Indeed, I can use my reiatsu and surrounding reshi to create an infinite array of objects. Literally anything I know of, I can create. I never actually tried, but I've speculated it would even be plausible for me to create a new life- a living being, with my ability." Alvaro said, and yet as he did he didn't sound as if he were bragging.

"The power of creation, huh…" Xun muttered to himself. "What a coincidence,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alvaro asked, confused.

"…Because my zanpakuto is the very symbol of destruction." Xun answered and raised his black gun and pulled the trigger.

However he did not fire a single shot, instead it was like his gun was an automatic machine gun as it fired out consecutive bullets with no end. In immediate reaction Alvaro clapped his hands together and then spread them out as far as he could. Following this more of his reiatsu and reshi built up and created and 2-inch think plate of metal, completely blocking Xun's attack.

Just as Xun stopped firing bullets, Alvaro jumped over his sheet of metal with two new swords in his hands and leaped down on Xun to slash him. Xun did not hesitate to switch his weapons to their blade mode and block the attacks, then shoving them aside and stabbing toward Alvaro himself.

But Alvaro was not caught off guard and used Sonido to get behind Xun, swinging his swords at Xun's right, but was blocked again easily. "You're not half bad there man." Alvaro laughed at his fun.

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment, since I'm not really trying yet." Xun responded.

"What's that?" Alvaro questioned.

"You have no idea what kind of power I possess. I told you my guns are the symbol of destruction, but do you have any idea what that means?" Xun asked. "It means that anything you could think to create I'll destroy just as quickly. Opposite powers rival each other in every sense of the word, when something is made, it is bound to break; whenever something is broken, something will try to fix it. So is the nature of everything in existence."

"What are you rambling about?" Alvaro rushed Xun to his point.

"Even living creatures such as us are bound to the law of creation and destruction. It might be more easily noted at the cycle of death and reincarnation." Xun said and Alvaro raised an eyebrow. "When a human in the World of the Living dies, they become a soul and come to the soul society. When a soul in the Soul Society dies, their body is destroyed and becomes reshi, but their soul travels back to the Human World and is reincarnated, and then it starts all over again. What is created is destroyed; and what is destroyed is created again."

"You know you're starting to ramble here, but it sounds like you're saying our fighting is a stalemate, is that it?" Alvaro asked.

"Not entirely, but yes."

"You're not being clear, what do you mean: 'not exactly'."

"Our powers are opposite, and therefore are at stalemate; but our strength is not parallel. The winner of this battle will be whichever one of us is truly stronger than the other; but that being said, we will never be able to figure out who is strongest without fighting at our strongest."

Alvaro finally grinned. "Oh, you're saying that because we are in such a stalemate, we should skip everything and use our full power right now?" Alvaro gathered. "You know something, I actually kind of like the sound of that! Skip the boring part of the battle and get right to the fun!" Alvaro said with a laugh, and clapped his hands together.

"So you're going to release your full power?" Xun asked.

"That's what you want right!" Alvaro replied and then pulled his hands apart, his reiatsu and reshi compressing between. "Fear my true power of absolute creation! Become everything, Encarnación!" Alvaro cried out, and the green mass of reshi poured over his whole body and began to change him to his true form.

As Xun watched, Alvaro's body seemed to become bigger in an overall sense. Spikes began to form at almost every part of his body and grew outward. When the transformation was done the green reshi dispersed his body and immediately Xun could feel the difference in his power. Alvaro's body had not simply become larger; it had been covered in a dense coating that looked like stone, which was likely his Hierro. The 'spikes' that came from his body were in fact blades made of the same substance; one at either wrist or elbow, and four large ones on his back.

Alvaro then used his power to make two long swords in his hands. "Your turn, let's see that Bankai of yours!" Alvaro said.

Xun slowly lifted his two guns so they were next to each other and pointed toward Alvaro; however, he did not call 'Bankai'. He instead shot a single bullet from both guns, taking Alvaro so off guard he didn't have time to block or dodge, and the two bullets hit him smack dab in the head. The force of the bullets made Alvaro fall back, but his Hierro had not been completely penetrated by the bullets, and because of that fact he was still alive.

Alvaro got back up and looked at Xun with scorn. "What's with you, you talk about using our full powers and then you don't respond in that manner!" He yelled.

"Sorry, I just don't see the point." Xun replied.

"Huh, what the hell is that? You're the one who brought it up!"

"You're right; I should say that I no longer see the point. Your true powers are not nearly as strong as I had anticipated. The feel of your reiatsu does not make me fear for my life. Therefore I do not see the point of using my own full power."

Alvaro clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You know something; you're really starting to piss. Me. OFF!" Alvaro screamed and charged at Xun, swinging his sword at him, but he was blocked immediately by Xun. "Not yet!" Alvaro screamed and continued. He swung his second blade at Xun's other side, but without even glancing to the side he raised his second gun and blocked it as well. "Let's see you handle this!" Again Alvaro screamed and ducked his head.

The four blades on Alvaro's back pointed toward Xun suddenly grew and came at him. Unable to block Xun jumped back, but the blades did not stop. The four razor sharp blades continued to extend for Xun even after he had jumped back because of Alvaro's ability.

Xun was taken off guard and hesitated for just a moment, but that was long enough for the four blades to reach and pierce Xun's body. "Hee," Alvaro responded and retracted his blades to their original length. "What do you think of my strength now?"

Xun slumped and looked at Alvaro. "It is still too weak. This wound means nothing; I was simply caught off guard for a moment. Your creation abilities improved much with your release. But now that I understand that I will not be taken so easily. My eyes can keep up with even Ken's or Akane's max speeds, the speed of your creation is nothing compare to them." Xun said and held up his guns. "There not even close to the speed of a gun."

"The speed of a gun, huh?" Alvaro repeated, as if he had an idea. "Interesting thought; I've never actually tried it before…" He spoke and then used his ability on all of the weapons on his body change form, and they became gun barrels. "…But I suppose using guns could be pretty useful!" he said, and readied himself to take on Xun full force.


	39. His One Weakness

_Chapter 38: His One Weakness_

"Steal and Expunge, Penaruti." Kirio said and released her zanpakuto's shikai.

"What good do you think your shikai will do against my power?" Bartolomé questioned as he used Sonido to approach Kirio and jabbed his hand at her gut. Kirio got out of the way with Shunpo and appeared behind Bartolomé punching his back, but Bartolomé did not attempt to dodge and Kirio's gauntlet skidded off of Bartolomé's back like it was made of rubber. "Like I said…" Bartolomé said and swung his arm back at Kirio, striking her in the side with impressive strength, knocking her down to the ground. "… No matter what you try, you cannot hope to injure me."

"I refuse to believe that!" Kirio shouted and got back to her feet, punching for Bartolomé's abdomen.

Bartolomé made no attempt to dodge and Kirio's attack didn't even scratch his skin. Kirio continued by punching with her second gauntlet, but Bartolomé merely grabbed in with his hand before it even made contact with his face. Kirio leaped back and clenched her teeth with frustration. (I can't wound him! Nothing I do is getting past the defense of his.)

"I'm growing rather board of this fight." Bartolomé said. "I hope you don't mind if I end this quickly." He said and drew his sword. "Do both of us a favor and just accept death, you will never be able to wound me." He told Kirio and leaped at her with his sword poised to run her though her heart.

But Kirio's resolve did not falter; she punched his blade to the side and stretched her second fist back. "Don't you look down on me!" She yelled and punched Bartolomé in the gut with everything she had, forcing his small body a few inches into the air.

In her frustration, Kirio began barraging Bartolomé with punches to his chest and limbs, attempting to find some sort of weak point within his ultimate defense. Kirio's punches forced Bartolomé back even after his feet landed on the ground, and once that happened Kirio pulled her arm back for one more blow and swung her arm full strength for the side of Bartolomé's face.

It was only now Bartolomé lifted his free hand and stopped Kirio's attack. "I keep telling you; nothing is going to work." Bartolomé said without so much as a bruise from Kirio's barrage.

Kirio pushed back against Bartolomé's hand with a furious look in her eyes. Bartolomé realized that it didn't matter what he said, she was the kind of person who refused to give up.

But then Kirio said something Bartolomé hadn't been expecting. "If there's really no way for me to hurt you…" She started her voice a growl with anger. "Then why do you always _block _my attacks when I go for your face?" She asked, and Bartolomé was stunned.

He hadn't even noticed it himself, he had been letting all of Kirio's attacks go by without even thinking about the possibility they might injure him. And that was simply because they couldn't. But whenever her punches twisted toward that left cheek covered by a strange cloth, he got defensive. Kirio had obviously been paying close attention to his actions and come to that conclusion.

His reaction was all she needed to confirm it. "What exactly are you hiding underneath that piece of fabric!" She yelled and brought up her other fist and attempted to hit that spot with he shikai, but in light of her clever conclusion, he used Sonido to back out of the way.

"Fine," He said as if resigned to a cruel fate. "Since you've figured it out there's no point hiding it anymore." Bartolomé then reached up for the cloth slowly, and then in an instant he ripped it off his face. "This is… my one and only weakness!" He declared and Kirio stared at the odd phenomenon.

It was a wound unlike any Kirio had seen before. More accurately it didn't look like an actual wound, but like the spot where his cheek was had been deteriorated down to the bone and even further. The skin surrounding the wound didn't look like it belonged on a boy his age, but on an elderly man with baggy skin. It was a hole in his ultimate defense, a hole that exposed his unprotected interior to the horror of any attack that struck through it.

"This is the only wound I've ever received since becoming an Arrancar. This one wound that was given to me by the Segunda Espada, Baraggan Louisenbairn…" Bartolomé said, his expression changing for the first time from boredom to pure hatred.

_ Recently having become an Arrancar on his own and obtaining his new power of adaption was dragged in front of Baraggan Louisenbairn, who had been beforehand made an Arrancar by Sosuke Aizen by Baraggan's group of Fracción. Individually, Bartolomé would have been able to kill them off, but together he had been subdued simply because he could not stop them from tying him up._

_Bartolomé was pushed down in front of the Segunda Espada he used to work under. That was the reason he was forced here now. "So, Bartolomé, you think now you are an Arrancar you no longer need to serve me?" Baraggan said._

_Bartolomé looked up at the powerful Espada with hatred in his eyes. "Why would I!" He yelled. "You've always tried to rule over Hueco Mundo with your strength. But now I can't even be injured! Even with your incredible strength, you can't so much as scratch me!"_

"_Is that so?" Another voice spoke up and Sosuke Aizen walked up to the group. "Tell me, what exactly is you power that makes you so invincible?" He asked Bartolomé._

_Bartolomé looked at Aizen with his hate filled eyes and replied. "I can adapt to all types of attacks, and stack the immunities on top of each other." He said._

"_Oh, interesting," Aizen commented and pulled out his zanpakuto. "So if even I were to strike you with everything I have, I would not even dent your skin?"_

"_That's right,"_

"_Then let us test that theory; shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu." Aizen spoke the name of his zanpakuto and stabbed Bartolomé through his heart._

_And to Bartolomé's surprise, the attack pierced him. The single blade had run strait through Bartolomé's ultimate defense with no problem at all, and he now held an expression of complete shock. "How sad," Aizen said, and suddenly the scene Bartolomé had witnessed was gone, and he was no longer injured. "It appears that not all types of attacks can be guarded against."_

_Bartolomé coughed, feeling like blood should have come from his mouth because the pain of Aizen's attack was still there. "What, what did you do?" He asked._

"_I used my zanpakuto's complete hypnosis so that you would see and feel like you body had been pierced by my sword. If you really could protect yourself from all types of attacks, even my hypnosis would have had no effect on your mind. From that information, I would say your ability only spans to attacks or abilities that physically wound your body. Anything that is not considered to physically injure your body will take effect." Aizen explained._

"_So what?" Bartolomé questioned. "A mental ability can't kill me off. In the end, I still can't be wounded. The only way I'll die is by old age."_

_Aizen smirked at this comment. "Funny you said that; Baraggan, use Respira." Aizen said._

"_Very well," Baraggan replied and held up his hand, out of which came a dark energy._

_Bartolomé was unable to move as he was tied up and the Respira came in contact with his left cheek. Despite Bartolomé's thought pattern, the attack did not cease to work against his adaption. The Respira began to slowly corrode away at Bartolomé until the very flesh and blood on his face was reduced to ash._

_Bartolomé couldn't believe it. "Wh-wh-what's happening; how can something like this wound me!"_

"_It is simple." Baraggan said. "My Respira is not a physically wounding attack. I am one who represents the aspect of death of aging; my attack is not wounding you, it is aging you!" He exclaimed, and Bartolomé became even more shocked, but to his surprise Baraggan lifted the spell, and the aging stopped with just his left cheek. "I suppose you don't feel as impervious as you did before. I should just kill you now for trying to betray me." Baraggan said and lifted his hand again, making Bartolomé cower._

"_No," Aizen suddenly interrupted, and all eyes were now on him. "I don't want someone with such a unique and helpful ability to die just yet. I see some use for him in the future, so I am going to make him one of the Navaja."_

"_Navaja?" Bartolomé questioned._

"_A place even higher than the Espada; you may not be as strong as some of them, but your ability certainly is something to be reckoned with." Aizen told Bartolomé, and severed his binds. "If you follow me I will take you to the others I have gathered. But remember, because that wound is one of age, it will never heal; If someone were to hit that spot with any sort of attack, you will be wounded despite your ability, you are no longer as perfect as you believed."_

"Because of that, I now have a single scar to prove I am not unable to be defeated." Bartolomé told Kirio, and then held his zanpakuto out. "But you won't survive long enough to make use of my weakness! I am, Sin Tacha!" Bartolomé screamed in his fury and released his zanpakuto to show his true powers.

Kirio looked toward Bartolomé as his transformation began and raised her own zanpakuto with a solemn expression, knowing that she now just needed to connect an attack to win. "Bankai, Shikei." Kirio said, releasing her Bankai twin gloves with a power that could end someone's life with a single strike.

She knew his weakness, now she would exploit it to the fullest.


	40. The Deciding Strike

_Chapter 39: The Deciding Strike_

"_So then, are you ready for the climax of this battle to finally begin?_" Ken asked and raised his Bankai; making his final challenge to the first real opponent he'd had in centuries.

"Climax?" Elvira questioned Ken's choice of words. "No, screw that; I'm just going to drive you into the ground and leave you there to rot." She said in a menacing tone that exemplified her hatred for Ken.

What Ken said next however was nothing like what she had been expecting. "_Yeah, give it all you've got._" Was his statement.

Elvira had expected something more like 'go ahead and try it'; where as the statement he decided to go with seemed more encouraging than down putting. Nonetheless, Elvira leaped at Ken.

"Die," She said and threw down her cero blades from above Ken, but as he used Shunpo to get out of the way they dropped into the sand.

"_Make me._" Ken said as he appeared behind Elvira.

Ken swung his zanpakuto at Elvira's side, but she brought up one of her blades and blocked the attack, swinging her body around to attack him with the other. But Ken bent his head back and the attack went strait past him and he flipped back to put distance between the two of them.

Ken realized immediately that was a bad move. Elvira extended her cero blades to compensate for the distance and the sword were about to cut him in half. But Ken used the incredible speed gained from his Bankai and hollow mask and just managed to jump back and out of the way.

"Get back here!" Elvira screamed and jumped after Ken.

"_Come get me!_" Ken retorted and then slammed the tip of his sword into one of the trees behind him, cutting it down so it was falling toward Elvira.

Elvira recognized this plan. Ken had done this once before and used the tree chunks to hide him for a moment and use his incredible speed to catch her off guard; but if he honestly thought the same trick would work twice in a row he was sadly mistaken.

Elvira couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't screw with me!" She told Ken and put the tips of her cero blades together, concentrating a large cero to be fired. "Grand Rey Cero," She called out and fired the incredibly powerful cero that hollow under Espada level couldn't use and it completely destroyed the tree so it couldn't be use as cover.

But then Ken was suddenly right in front of Elvira. She suddenly realized his true plan had been to make her think what she had so her attention would be momentarily taken off him. Ken swung his blade up at Elvira at a speed and range she was unable to completely dodge in time and the blade delivered a cut up her arm. But Elvira did not back away and instead swung her cero blades and Ken's arm. Ken jumped back, but not without getting his own arm torn into when Elvira extended the blades tips to hit him anyways.

The fight was so impossibly evenly matched that neither Elvira nor Ken could see the battle ending anytime soon; nevertheless, they both intended to end it as fast as they were able. With that thought in mind, they both bolted toward each other and swung their weapons full force, clashing between them, neither attack claiming dominance over the other.

Elvira continued to push against Ken while retaining her pissed-off demeanor. Ken pushed back but his expression was unable to be discerned from behind his hollow mask. She could see his eyes, but behind the mask they seemed void of emotion at all, like the look of someone who has no dream and just walks through life.

"I'm gonna' kill you." Elvira muttered and then concentrated more cero in her blades to make them larger, using them to push down Ken's blade until he couldn't withstand it anymore and had to jump back, but got wounded down his chest in the process. "I'm gonna' kill you!" Elvira screamed again.

"_How will you do it?_" Ken asked, as if he was actually curious as to the method.

Elvira jumped up to him and swung one blade, which he blocked but was shot backwards by the force. "I'm gonna' tear you to shreds until you die from the pain, that's how!" Elvira yelled at Ken and ran toward him again.

Ken returned her charge and they swung their blade simultaneously, clashing and skidding off each other. Their attacks didn't stop there, Elvira stabbed forward with her second blade and Ken brought up his Bankai to deflect it over his head and countered with his own strike.

Elvira used Sonido and got out of the way and Ken's sword scratched the ground. But the scratch was enough to make the sand for 20 feet fly upward. It had been obvious for a while, Elvira could see the changes in his Bankai when he put strength over speed or vise versa.

Zen'nonotenrankainoha. 'Almighty exhibition blade'. That was his zanpakuto, with an ability that allowed him to control the two base components that decided the end of a battle- speed and strength. In shikai, the two blades represented one or the other, and had fixed levels that were balanced out if he held both at the same time and maximized if he held only one. But in Bankai, the two blades were one, and the levels were not so fixed. Each tip on Ken's blade represented a different level, there are nine tips, and the levels of speed and strength could be balanced in any number.

The give away Elvira followed was that when Ken gave up a level of speed for a level of strength, his arm would lower slightly to accommodate the strength of the weapon. When he did the reverse, his arm would rise, no longer needing the accommodation for strength. It wasn't an unconscious habit Ken could change, it was just something that happened which he had no control over. No matter what kind of movements he used, as long as Elvira kept an eye on Ken's sword, she could tell when he was about to use speed or strength.

At the moment Elvira appeared behind Ken, his arm rose a couple inches. The ratio was 6 speed/3 strength. Ken dared not give up anymore strength than that, or he would be pushed back too easily. Ken swung his arm around and Elvira blocked it with one blade and slashed Ken with the second- 4 speed/5 strength- Ken pushed down on Elvira first blade and brought it down to block the second one before it hit.

Ken readied his blade for an attack- 5/4 – He lurched his blade up and cut a shallow wound across Elvira's chest and then held his blade above her. 3/6 - he dared not give up anymore speed than that, or he would be too slow to stop anything Elvira did. He brought his blade down, but Elvira once again used Sonido to avoid the attack.

Ken also noticed a pattern. Elvira had before been using her blades to launch cero beams fairly often, but since he had angered her saying she did not deserve her rank, she seemed to have stopped doing so. It was if her hatred was overruling her common sense and was now refusing to use anything but regular fighting tactics to prove to Ken he was wrong about her.

The battle was a stalemate for them. Neither one of them could ignore the fact that the only attacks they managed to connect were small ones, and that getting one in normally meant the other getting one in themselves. Ken realized this, but Elvira was probably too furious at him to take note.

Elvira appeared above ken and swung down both her cero blades at his head, but he increased his speed and span his body to the side and out of the way, then swung his blade to the side at Elvira, but she brought up one blade and blocked it. They began striking, countering, retaliating, and endlessly barraging one another with their attacks while apparently forgetting how to use their feet; they no longer moved from their positions and endlessly swung their blades in the incredibly close-quarters battle.

As they continued, their speed seemed to increase gradually like doing this in itself was training their bodies at an accelerated rate. Yet in this barrage, neither were managing the hit the other for even a scratch. And yet they both refused to move their feet, like there were invisible lines behind them and if they moved back even an inch they would die.

Words had become completely useless. Dodging seemed tabooed. Skill no longer played a part in who would emerge victorious. Power in his attack didn't seem like it would make a difference to Ken anymore, so he gave it up – 8/1 – he had completely forsaken strength as much as was possible with his zanpakuto to give complete weigh to speed. Any trick she could use felt irrelevant to Elvira, so she didn't used any and just focused on swinging her cero blades to cut through Ken if she could only hit him.

Their arms moved at such speeds it was hard to follow the movements, and the only clues as to what was happening was the sparks that would fly out from the weapons making contact.

Finally, their attacks began making contact. But the wounds were barely able to be called paper cuts as their weapons seemed to close in on the opponent's body and both were being struck. Yet even this development didn't make either of them even inch backward. The speed of their opponent's attacks would surely slaughter them if they attempted now.

It went on and on until those tiny slits in their skin seemed to burn from the wind pressing on them. In a flash both combatants clashed their weapons and were frozen in place, just staring at one another from behind their weapons. Ken gave some strength back to make sure Elvira didn't push him back to easily and they just stood there.

Their power was so equal it was as if their fight had transcended the need to communicate their thought. They both completely understood the other was thinking the same thing as them. 'This has gone on to long. It's time to end it once and for all!' That was what they thought; and so they acted on it. Ken and Elvira simultaneously jumped back from each other so they could prepare their final attacks.

Elvira put her hands together, merging her two cero blades and even made her compressed blade of cero into the same size and shape as Ken's blade to make it completely equal. Ken knew what this meant. In this final attack, speed would be the irrelevant factor, and so he gave it up – 1/8 – he know had as much strength as was possible from his zanpakuto.

"_Anything you'd like to say?_" Ken asked.

"I've got nothing I want to say to you." Elvira responded crudely.

"_Then let me say something._" Ken said. "_I apologize, if anything you deserve a higher rank._"

Elvira was stunned beyond words. Ken had seemed so dead-set on the idea Elvira had no more worth as a fighter and know he was apologizing for having said so. And yet what surprised her most was how much it affected her emotional state.

Just a moment ago she wanted to rip him to shreds until the pieces couldn't even be put back together if they tried. But immediately after hearing those words all her hatred melted away. She no longer saw him as some person who had had luxuries and safety for most of his life. Because of the tone of his voice in his apology, she know could help thinking the two of them might have lived the same kind of life even if they were to have had their positions switched completely.

She calmed herself and stared back at Ken, she was now able to read the expression on Ken's face strait through his mask. It was the face of someone who was so sincere in his apology it would have made her want to puke if she wasn't now wearing the same expression. "Then let's end this, the only people like us know how." Elvira said.

Translation was not needed; that was Elvira's version of an apology. The two of them now looked at each other as equals in every way, and with that in mind they raised their blades for a final strike.

In the same second, Ken and Elvira charged. Time seemed to slow down as they approached each other. They pulled their swords back to give them as much power as they possibly could.

Only one of them would make it out alive. That was the thought floating in Elvira's head as she swung her Cero blade, and Ken swung his blade in kind.

The next thing that could be understood, there was an explosion. The explosion was obviously caused by Elvira's condensed cero blade loosing its ability to stick together. But the explosion wasn't on the same level as the one she had used the first time; this explosion was at least 5 times larger and more deadly than that one, and it was unsure if either of them could have even survived as scraps in the aftermath.

But that wouldn't have mattered to either one of them. All they would have cared about is that they would have just fought the most extraordinary battle of their lives, and that was honestly all that mattered.

The explosion didn't just impact them; the tremors of that explosion were felt by the combatants in the middle of fighting themselves. They were felt by Bartolomé and Kirio, by Xun and Alvaro, and probably by any living creature currently within the bounds of all Hueco Mundo. The fight was over, and the only reason the explosion would have occurred is if the victor had been Ken…


	41. Symbol of Destruction

_Chapter 40: Symbol of Destruction_

Even as Alvaro aimed his array of guns at him, Xun did not so much as click his tongue in annoyance. He had already stated his powers were far above what Alvaro had accomplished. But when he said that, it was not with arrogance or underestimation; it was simply that he honestly found that to be the case after careful examination.

"Ready aim and fire!" Alvaro said and immediately had the triggers of at least 6 guns in rapid fire strait for Xun.

Xun didn't seem to have time to dodge and Alvaro's view of him was obscured as his bullet kicked up sand and dust between them. Even like that, Alvaro's trigger finger didn't come undone; instead, it seemed to make him more excited as he laughed excitedly.

"Awesome, who knew using guns was so much fun!" Alvaro yelled as he stopped firing his regular guns and bent forward to ready the two huge guns on his back. "Eat dirt!" He yelled as he fire two missile size bullets at the spot Xun was when he began firing the guns.

A moment past and nothing happened, but Alvaro could still sense Xun's reiatsu there, regardless of how, he was still alive in there. But then something Alvaro hadn't seen coming happened. A shot was fired from Xun's side, not only piercing Alvaro's shoulder, but on its way completely dispersing the cloud of dust between them.

But that wasn't even the surprising part. The most shocking thing was that Alvaro saw Xun standing strait without a single injury while the bullets he had fired lay in a crumbled array around him. "Huh, that's interesting." Was all Xun had to say.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Alvaro questioned.

"It's your reiatsu; your ability sees to augment it in such a way my black gun's illusion serum won't be able to take effect." Xun answered. "You see, the bullets of my black gun produce a serum from my reiatsu that begins to destroy my opponent from the inside. In this stage it deteriorates your mind and reiatsu by putting you into an illusion where you still feel your actions taking physical tolls on you, and it begins to where away your strength bit by bit. However, if my opponent can flare their reiatsu in a certain way, they can break the illusion. But your reiatsu however, because of how you mold reiatsu and reshi to create objects, is in a constant flare, making the illusion serum useless. Even if I were to remove the limiter so that it releases a death serum, your reiatsu would cancel it before it could even make you feel the pain."

"Hee, so you're saying I might not be as easy an opponent as you thought?" Alvaro thought.

"No, how easily I believed I would defeat you was not factoring in my zanpakuto's actual ability. You will still die before I am forced to use Bankai." Xun replied.

"What, so you're still looking down on me? In that case, how about I show the true extent of my power?" Alvaro said and held his hands up.

However, his reiatsu did not begin compressing at the point of his palms; instead, multiple green orbs formed in different places around Xun, objects being formed to strike Xun from all angles. But even at this sight Xun did not feel oppressed.

In fact, as if to show this truth, he tossed his black gun away, seeing it as an actual handicap since its ability was useless. "Bring it on." Xun said.

"Happy to oblige," Alvaro shouted back and swung his arms.

At that instant, dozens of knifes, swords, and obscure weapons that had no name appeared and flew inward toward Xun. He did not hesitate; Xun shot a myriad of bullets from his white gun the clashed with some of the weapons in front of him and deflected them to make a small hole he could escape the weapons from.

But it did not stop there; Alvaro began creating even more weapons and had them shot for Xun, trying to cut him at any time he let his guard down even slightly. Xun did not let up and continued to shot certain weapons away and dive out of the way, however, this vicious cycle only meant he would never have a chance to shot Alvaro.

"Come on, run faster! Aren't you supposed to be better than me!" Alvaro bragged as he continued to keep Xun trapped in a corner.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Xun said, and then suddenly used Shunpo and vanished from the view of Alvaro's myriad of weapons. Xun suddenly appeared behind Alvaro and used his gun's blade mode to slash a wound across his back.

Alvaro jumped away afterward, and face Xun again. "Bastard,"

"If you couldn't even keep up with that, you really are doomed." Xun told Alvaro and switched back to gun mode.

"I'm already through with this battle, I just need to release the limiter and finish you off." Xun said, and then Alvaro saw the black cross on the side of Xun's gun vanish, becoming completely white.

"And what exactly is that?" Alvaro asked.

"I'll tell you the truth since there's no point in hiding it." Xun answered. "Normally, when I tell people that my black gun is a poison, they automatically assume that makes the white gun an antidote. I let almost all of them believe this assumption on the grounds that it's still about 10% true, but rather than an 'antidote', I would just refer to it as an 'opposite'." Xun explained.

"The opposite of illusion and death?" Alvaro questioned that logic since that zanpakuto is supposed to be a symbol of destruction. 'Reality and life' wouldn't exactly fit that description.

"Not exactly," Xun corrected Alvaro. "My white gun represents the opposite side of destruction that my black gun does."

"Which would be?"

"Think about it, my black gun creates a serum that takes my opponent down from the inside out, essentially destroying their own bodies. It represents internal destruction. That means that my white gun represents external destruction.

"In the first stage, it acts just a like a regular gun. However, with the limited removed, it does much, much more than that." Xun said, and then fired a single bullet.

It was strange; Alvaro was suddenly overcome with a sense of fear. He had a terrible sense of what would happen if that bullet hit his body; and because of that, he acted more quickly than ever before. Alvaro created a makeshift shield and put it between him and the incoming bullet. Little did he know that would not stop 'external destruction'.

That being, the bullet exploded on contact. The explosion was amazing for coming from such a small bullet, and was enough to knock Alvaro back yards at once. "What the-" It did not end there. Xun's gun went automatic and was shooting tens of bullets in just as many seconds. Alvaro couldn't protect himself against so many explosive bullets.

Alvaro's body was ripped apart, burned excessively, and scarred beyond repair. So easily he had been defeated, and Xun was not even scratched. "That is what it means to be a symbol of destruction." Xun told Alvaro. "I almost completely control death with my power. I control when something will fall. I can reduce to rubble a structure any grand and end a life no matter how well-maintained. I truly am destruction incarnate."

Alvaro was left speechless. He couldn't run from the truth anymore. His power truly was horribly minimal compared to Xun's. He simply had not been though enough trails to reach the level he has. And yet, at this realization, Alvaro felt at peace. He felt like he was ready.

Now that he accepted his meagerness in the world, he could die without worry or strife. And so he resigned himself to his fate. He couldn't even lift a finger to help himself at this point anyways; his body was far too much in disrepair for that. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't flee to survive.

"Now that you are as good as dead, it is time to make it official." Xun said, and held his gun pointed at Alvaro's forehead in order to kill him… and pulled the trigger.


	42. Sentanced to Death

_Chapter 41: Sentenced to Death_

With her Bankai at ready, Kirio waited as Bartolomé completed his Resurreccion. When his form emerged from the sand cloud surrounding him, his appearance was very different from before. His clothes had become something like a dress over his body and his hair had become very long, making him look quite feminine. From all over Bartolomé's body, thin white ropes-like tentacles stretched out with 6 over each arm and coming off his back.

Bartolomé looked at Kirio with an expression of pure hatred. Outside Aizen and the Navaja, no one knew he had that breach in his defenses. There was absolutely no one outside those few that could kill him, but now this Shinigami had figured it out because of an unconscious habit he had to block attacks heading for his one and only flaw.

"Come here you worthless Shinigami." Bartolomé said. "I'll make sure you don't live long enough to touch this injury."

"We'll just see about that!" Kirio replied and Shunpoed forward.

Kirio appeared right in front of Bartolomé and swung her fist at his left cheek, but Bartolomé brought up his hand and caught the attack. But the whole story was not as simple as that; Kirio had stocked up reiatsu in her punch that would be released on impact, being blocked by Bartolomé sent the reiatsu shooting of left and right, as well as shooting both of them back with a shockwave.

"You'll never beat me!" Bartolomé yelled as his feet hit the side of a tree and he jumped back at Kirio.

"Don't underestimate me!" Kirio replied as she skidded to a stop in mid air and then crossed her arms in front of her as Bartolomé swung his arm and the tentacles stretched out and smashed her down into the ground below.

"Just give it up, as long as I'm aware you're aiming for my weakness, you'll never get close-"

"_Wanna' bet_." Kirio suddenly said from behind Bartolomé after putting her hollow mask on.

Kirio swung her fist at Bartolomé as he turned to look at her. But just inches from his weakness, he stretched out the tentacles on his back and smashed them into Kirio and keep her away. But Kirio caught herself and jumped back up at Bartolomé, who retaliated by swinging down the tentacles from his left arm at her. Kirio jumped up to avoid them, but was suddenly met with the tentacles from Bartolomé's other arm, which smashed into her mask, breaking it and throwing her back into the ground.

"Like I said, you'll never beat me!" Bartolomé shouted again and shot his tentacles down at her landing point beyond the cloud of dust and sand around her.

But when the dust was separated, Kirio grabbed onto the tentacles and held them at her side. She fixed her hollow mask with her other hand and then gripped the tentacles with it as well to strengthen the grip as Bartolomé tried to pull away.

"_I will beat you. Because I have to beat you!_" She said and gathered reiatsu into her Bankai to increase her strength.

Kirio pulled Bartolomé by his tentacles around in circle, crashing him into all the trees surrounding them, following by smashing him into the ground ahead of her. Of course none of that even scratched Bartolomé because of his adaption; it all just felt like a bad carnival ride to him.

Bartolomé stood back up without any kind of injury, but still looked upon Kirio with contempt for having thought it might work. "You must be stupid; doing something like that just wasted your energy!" He said and used Sonido to get right in front of Kirio and swing his left arm tentacles at her, but she jumped back to dodge.

"_Actually, that was just a test to see if I was right._" Kirio said surprisingly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bartolomé asked.

"_Like you said, things that aren't considered to physically damage you will still take their desired effects. So I can still move you around with my strength, but pushing you into things by doing so won't hurt you. So I just have to use something that isn't considered physically damaging to fight you._" Kirio said.

"Yeah, like what?" Bartolomé asked.

"_Bakudo #62: Hyapporankan_," Kirio shouted, and clapped her hands together.

When she pulled her hand apart, a long white rod appeared in her hands. And when she threw it at Bartolomé, it became tens of hundreds being aimed for him. Bartolomé was taken by surprise but did not allow himself to get caught by them so easily.

Bakudo were kinds of spells that did not damage the target, but restricted them instead. Because Bakudo was not considered to physically damage the target, they would still have their desired effects if they hit Bartolomé. But Bartolomé's luck did not keep up. Just one of the white rods managed to catch him by his arm and then pinned him to the ground.

Kirio jumped overhead and held out her hand. "_Bakudo #30: Shitotsu Sansen._" She called as she formed a golden triangle and fired three bars of light at Bartolomé.

Bartolomé grabbed the white rod binding him at his right arm with his left and raised his reiatsu in order to achieve strength high enough to break it apart, freeing him just in time so that he could jump out of the way of the second kido.

"_Bakudo #63: Sajo Sabaku._" Kirio shouted and a chain of light stretched out from her right hand "_Bakudo #4: Hainawa._" Kirio said and a rope of light stretched from her left hand.

Kirio swung the Hainawa at Bartolomé, but he jumped up and avoided it. But Kirio didn't stop there. She jumped up and chased after him while continuing to swing both Hainawa and Sajo Sabaku to attempt to restrain Bartolomé.

While she was doing this, Bartolomé moved as quickly as he could. By ducking, flipping and jumping higher into the air, he was just managing to keep from being caught in the Bakudo. "_Bakudo #37: Tsuriboshi._" But then Kirio suddenly called the name of yet another Bakudo and shot something behind Bartolomé that grew out and became a strange sticky substance that stuck to six of the trees and blocked Bartolomé from going any further up if he didn't want to get caught in it.

Bartolomé stretched the tentacles on his back up at the Bakudo and used them to rip a hole apart so he could get past, but while doing so accidentally took his attention off Kirio. Kirio used this opportunity and got both Hainawa and Sajo Sabaku rapped around Bartolomé, binding him and forcing him back to the ground. Once they both hit the ground, Bartolomé got to his feet and fought to break the pair of kido before Kirio could do anything else.

But while he attempted to do that, Kirio began a chant. "_Carriage of thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six! Bakudo #61:…_" As Kirio readied the next Bakudo with an incantation to make it stronger, Bartolomé was on the verge of breaking the current kido, but it was already too late. "_… Rikujokuro!_" Kirio spoke the name of the kido and point a single finger at Bartolomé.

Simultaneously, six bars of light struck Bartolomé at his midsection and completely sealed his movements. He was no longer able to break the kido keeping him from running. And now there was nothing stopping Kirio from finishing the job.

Kirio charged her Bankai with her reiatsu and ran toward Bartolomé to deliver her final attack. "_I sentence you… to Death!_" She called, and with that punched Bartolomé's one weaknesses, the injury he obtained from the second Espada that allowed any kind of attack to work so long as it hit that spot.

Bartolomé immediately felt the life leave his body as he fell backward while his body was still restrained by kido. All he could think about in the last moments of his life was how he hated Kirio, Baraggan, and Aizen for everything they had cursed him with. Aizen found his weakness, Baraggan opened a hole in his defenses, and Kirio finished the job, using that hole to kill him, something that never should have been able to happen. Bartolomé breathed his last breath, and died.

"_My Bankai has a power that allows me to kill any living creature with a single punch. The flaw it has is that these gloves are covered with small blades, requiring me to get those blades into my opponent's skin before the ability can take effect. That's why I had to attack the hole in your perfect defense in order for it to take effect, if I didn't, you would have died the moment you caught my first punch._" Kirio explained to her fallen opponent. "_You never understood anything did you? If you had only accepted your weakness instead of turning your back on it and pretending it didn't exist, you would have become much stronger, and then this fight may have ended very differently._" She said, and then removed her hollow mask.

All-in-all, Kirio wasn't in too bad a shape. A huge explosion had occurred earlier that was around the vicinity of Ken's reiatsu, but as she checked now it appeared he was fine. She could sense that Xun had subdued his opponent fairly easily. Akane had fallen earlier, but Keade had healed to so the wounds were no longer life threatening, however she did have a new opponent herself now.

She wasn't sure how much help she would be if she had that much trouble with the weakest of the Navaja, but it was better than doing nothing, and so she headed off to help Keade.


	43. The Cavalry

_Chapter 42: The Cavalry_

In the middle of a gigantic crater within Hueco Mundo, a Garganta-like portal opened up and Custodio, the **-5****th** Navaja, walked out onto the battlefield. He had a single purpose for coming out, and for that reason he had chosen here to come first. Custodio jumped from the middle of the crater that must have been at least 10 meters deep and landed right on the edge of the outside where he found who he was looking for.

Sitting on the remains of a tree which had fallen over was Ken, a member of the Royal Guard, who they of the Navaja were charged with the task of killing. Lying on the branch beside him unconscious, but not dead, was the **-3****rd**Navaja he had been fighting, Elvira. Custodio had come to keep her from being finished off, but oddly it didn't appear that was the Shinigami's intention. If it was, there was no reason she would not already be dead since Ken was obviously still awake and able to do so.

"You didn't kill her, why?" Custodio asked Ken, who was staring at him at ready if he had to fight again.

"There's no way I could've, she and I are far too much alike." Ken answered the Navaja that was supposed to be his enemy.

"I see," Custodio said. "Then what do you plan to do with her?"

"I plan to keep her alive." Ken answered, and the only thing Custodio was surprised by was that he was not surprised by those words. "Like I said, she and I are too much alike; I wouldn't even let someone else finish her off. I know it seems impossible for me to actually mean this, but I want to protect her."

Custodio closed his eyes and sighed. "A Shinigami protecting a Hollow; do you understand how absurd that is?"

"I do, but I don't care. And if you plan to do anything to keep me from doing so, I'll gladly fight you here and now." Ken said and grabbed his sword.

Custodio held up his hand as if to say there was no need. "No, I will not fight you. If your wish to protect Elvira is genuine, then I will leave it at that."

At that, Ken relaxed. "I see, thank you." Ken said.

Satisfied, Custodio began to walk toward his next destination, and even though Ken knew it meant he would be fighting his friends, right now he wouldn't be able to do anything to help. Right now, he'd only fight if he needed to protect Elvira.

Xun took his gun that represented external destruction and pointed it at a wounded Alvaro. "Time for you to die," Xun said, and with that last statement he pulled the trigger.

However, Alvaro's death did not follow the gun shot. In an instant, someone appeared between the two combatants and held out his hand in the trajectory of Xun's bullet. As the bullet impacted, it exploded but, the explosion was unnatural. It did not explode in all directions, and seemed to refuse going behind the line the new enemy's hand made.

When the explosion died down, the man who had blocked the attack didn't even have scratch on the palm of his hand. Xun was having trouble processing what just happened, but then Alvaro spoke up as if to settle the confusion. "Custodio, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Protecting you of course," Custodio answered. "Why else would I have come?"

Xun held his gun up in challenge to his new enemy, but this person was completely different from Alvaro. He could feel it in his reiatsu levels alone, but if he needed confirmation he could just look at his hand, on which was the number **-5**, placing him 3 ranks stronger than Alvaro.

"Alvaro, you leave, go back to the hideout and heal your injuries. Once you're healed make sure to come back and help out." Custodio said. "With your ability, you should be able to create new patches of skin over your injuries and be ready to fight in a matter of hours."

"No," Alvaro responded surprisingly.

Custodio looked back at Alvaro. "What do you mean, 'no'?" He asked.

"I mean I'm done." Alvaro answered. "I'm sick of it all. I mean I'm a Hollow for crying out loud!" Alvaro sounded like he was going crazy to Custodio, but he kept talking anyways. "Why does a Hollow have the power of creation, it completely stupid; and to add irony, I had to fight a Shinigami with a Zanpakuto of destruction!"

"Alvaro, what are you talking about?" Custodio asked, honestly surprised that he of all people was talking like that.

"Once, just this once…" Alvaro began, and then began the use of his ability and put the green orbs to his chest. "…I am going to destroy!" Alvaro finished, and the green orbs in his hand became swords that pierced his chest, and he killed himself.

Custodio honestly couldn't believe what he just saw. Alvaro had always bragged about his ability, he thought it was the most powerful thing ever; he could make anything he could think of to subdue his opponents in battle. And yet after this battle, he cursed his ability, saying he wanted to destroy.

No, that was exactly it, he could make any tool in the world to defeat his opponents, but in this one case it wasn't even enough to scratch his opponent. He suddenly felt creation is not so infinite an ability, as it was easily beaten by one with destruction.

Finally, Xun spoke up. "So who exactly are you?" He asked.

For some reason, Custodio seemed in a daze, and turned back to Xun slowly. "Well let's see, Alvaro said you have powers of destruction and that he is creation. So why not call me the middle man, what I do is protect."

"So you came here to protect your comrade? Guess you're out of luck." Xun replied.

"True, if only it were that easy anymore." Custodio said.

"What does that mean?" Xun asked, not understanding what Custodio meant by that.

"You see, the reason I came out here was to get the Navaja out of danger. But one died too quickly, one has seen fit to kill himself, one is being held by your friend, and the last appeared to have defected and was trying to help you and so was killed by us. We have lost four fighters now, but that means the six that remain can not longer sit idly by. You have six more Navaja to kill, and we are all stronger than the ones you've faced so far. Much stronger, two of your own are unable to fight, and even though I'm against it, I'll have to make that number three." Custodio told Xun and pulled out his zanpakuto. Being told that, Xun pulled the trigger of his gun. But immediately Custodio was gone, letting the bullet fly past. "You'll have to forgive me; I honestly wish I didn't have to fight." Custodio said from behind Xun, and swung his sword down on him.

However, something unexpected happened. Someone appeared behind Custodio and had her fist clad in a metal glove ready to strike him. "I Sentence you…" She began. It was Kirio, who had originally been running to help Keade, but felt Xun facing a new opponent and went to him instead. Custodio removed his attention from Xun and turned to Kirio, who swung her fist at him. "…to D-" She continued, but was cut shot when Custodio swung his free hand to get in the way of her punch.

Normally that shouldn't have mattered, but what happened wasn't normal. Something had happened and Kirio was shot backwards after hitting Custodio's hand, even though he barely even pushed her back. As she struck a tree that collapsed on top of her, Custodio returned his attention to Xun behind him who was about to fire another bullet.

To keep that from happening, Custodio swung his sword up and struck the gun right out of Xun's hand. Next, Custodio swung his sword back down and cut a large cut down Xun's body before he could react. Custodio was about to deliver the finishing blow when Kirio shot out of the rubble behind him, once again adverting his attention as she had raised her reiatsu and put on her hollow mask.

"_Don't even think about it!_" She shouted and threw another punch at Custodio.

But she just hadn't been fast enough. Her fist was just inches from striking Custodio when he brought up his free hand and caught her wrist and immediately slashed her across her midsection, afterward throwing her down to the ground.

Custodio made a sigh of relief. "Well, I must say I'm impressed." He said and turned to Xun. "If you had been a half-second fast, I'd be in quite a bad position now." He told him, and then turned back to Kirio. "And I don't know exactly what your ability is; but inferring from what happened to Bartolomé, if you had been a half-second faster, I'd probably be dead right now."

Xun and Kirio looked up at Custodio with shock. Even if they had both just been in fights of their own, neither was very heavily injured, and yet he just decimated them in less than 20 seconds. Even if he said something like that, it didn't help their current situation.

"Again I would like to apologize, despite what you may think; I really don't like having to fight." Custodio said, and raised his blade to finish them off.

But at that point, another unexpected event took place. "Hey," A voice shouted as two men appeared to either side of Custodio, and he stopped.

"Don't even think about it." The two men who had appeared were Leith and Shouta.

Shouta wasn't going to wait for Custodio to try anything. He grabbed his sword and shot himself at his enemy. Custodio put up his sword to block, but then Shouta put on his hollow mask and used it to increase his strength. He pushed Custodio back and was followed by Leith until they were a safe distance from Xun and Kirio.

Their wounds hadn't been life-threatening, and as long as one of them could still move, they could use kido to heal themselves. Al the two of them had to worry about was defeating Custodio.

Once they reached a destination, Shouta took his hollow mask back off. "So then, who are you?" He asked.

"I am Custodio, the **-5** Navaja." Custodio replied. "And you two are?"

"Going to kick your ass!" Leith said. "But if you really want to know, I am Leith.

"And my name's Shouta. Now get ready to die."

"Sorry, I do not wish to fight, but I also do not intend to die. Forgive me, but I'll dispatch you both here." Custodio said.

Also, at another point in Hueco Mundo, another portal opened. Out of this portal stepped out three figures. They were three of the remaining four Navaja to make an appearance, leaving only the strongest of them all yet to come out of hiding. But of course that mattered little to them; they just had to kill every member of the Royal Guard.

"Alright fan out and kill them all. I don't care what you do as long as you stay out of my way." The female Arrancar told the other two, and then without even responding, the three of them ran off to find their opponents.

* * *

**AN: I would like to take now to say that I realize the Alvaro suicide plot point was not well done. Honestly I don't know why** **but Alvaro and Xun's fight was very hard for me to do, and so everything I had planned, especially Alvaro's suicide, was extremely downgraded. I just wanted to say that for anyone that felt confused over how bad it was.**


	44. Full War

_Chapter 43: Full War_

The reiatsu of the three Arrancars flooded Hueco Mundo until everyone in the Royal Guard was aware they had arrived. At that time, the three of them ran off in different directions.

One ran until he found the nearest person to him. The Shinigami he found was Aura. When Aura saw him she stopped and immediately drew her sword. "Who are you?" Aura asked.

"My name is Manuel; I am the **-8****th**Navaja. And you are?" The Arrancar replied.

Manuel was a tall, slender man with blonde hair he had sleeked back. He wore a long white trench coat and had blue eyes. The remains of his hollow mask were like two thick wires hooked behind his ears that stretched down and hooked onto each other at his chin and he had his sword strapped to his back.

"My name is Aura." Aura responded cautiously. "You say you're the **-8****th**, but just how many of you are there?"

Manuel smiled at Aura question. "Good question; you've got to know what you're up against before you try to fight them, right? Well if you really want to know I'll tell you. There are exactly ten of us, making me the third strongest opponent you have to face."

"Third strongest, huh?" Aura repeated.

"Yep, and based on the reiatsu I'm sensing from your comrades, you must be the fourth strongest of your group. Well, fifth if you count the Soul King." Manuel said and started reaching behind him. Aura braced herself as she thought he was going for his sword, but surprisingly he just scratched the back of his head and continued talking needlessly. "Hm, interesting, it looks like someone stronger than you is taking on **-7**. That's a bit of a mix up wouldn't you say?"

Aura was a bit apprehensive. Manuel was supposed to be her enemy, but he wasn't acting like it at all, he was being far to friendly with Aura, and his guard was lowered it felt like she could run forward and run him through before he knew what hit him.

She had he sword pointed at him, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest, and continued to talk away. "Still though, Ambrosio isn't so easy an opponent to beat, even though I'm labeled as stronger, it's not a 100% certainty I'd come out the victor in a fight with him."

Aura couldn't hold herself back any longer. For some reason hearing him continue to speak so naturally was sounding like he was mocking her, daring her to make a move so he could put her in her place. Normally things like that didn't bother her, but lately she felt like she was faster to anger.

Because of that, she used Shunpo and appeared right behind Manuel. But as she swung her sword, Manuel lifted his hand behind him and caught the blade with his bare hand. "Hey now, that was rude, I was still talking here."

"Well I'm through listening." Aura answered. "Trace, Oranoha!" Aura called the name of her zanpakuto.

At this, Manuel took precautions and jumped away from Aura. However, all he saw was something almost invisible with a faint glow cover Aura's body and sword. After a moment, Manuel sighed. "Oh well, guess there's nothing left to say is there?" Manuel said and started reaching behind him again. "I was really just trying to stall this for a long as I could, but if you're so intent on fight I guess I have no choice." As Manuel said this, he drew his sword strapped to his back and held it out in front of him. "Well then, attack, and we'll get this started."

Aura waited a moment, examining Manuel like he might have some hidden tactic, then she ran forward to attack.

By this point, Hikaru and Rin had encountered their own enemy. "My Name is Donato, pleasure to meet you both." The Arrancar told them. Donato had short cut black hair with his bangs separated to show off the **-6 **tattooed on his forehead and the remnants of his hollow mask were like a crown on his head, making a ring around his head with a circle around his ranking number. He wore baggy white clothes that had royal purple bands snapping them in place at his shoulders, wrists and ankles along with a long purple sash around his waist. "So what are your names?" He asked in a tone that made it sound like a demand rather than a question.

Hikaru smirked arrogantly. "Hikaru," He stated.

"Rin," Rin said, looking much less enthusiastic than Hikaru. "But why do you care?" He asked.

"Names are the foundation of a person's very nature - their very soul. I believe it is important to know everything your opponents to gain an understanding of their soul." Donato told Rin as if it should have been common knowledge.

"The foundation of a person's soul, huh?" Hikaru repeated as he took out his zanpakuto. "If that's true, there's another name you might be interested to hear. Split in fury, Kaminarinoshogeki!" Hikaru shouted and swung his sword as it was covered in electricity that shot out a bolt of lightning that crisscrossed once before heading strait for Donato.

Donato did not look surprised, but took his zanpakuto out and pointed the tip right in the way of the bolt. As it made contact the bolt split and flew just past Donato and struck the ground behind him. "Kaminarinoshogeki was it? I'll be sure to remember that." Donato said, but something about how Donato said that made Rin begin to worry, so he jumped forward and swung down on Donato as fast as he could, but he blocked easily. "Rin was it?" Donato asked plainly before pushing back and shooting Rin backward with amazing strength.

Rin got back to his feet and faced Donato. But the way he confirmed his name just made it seem more likely he was planning something. He couldn't be sure what it was, but it couldn't mean anything good for them. "Hikaru, let's do this quickly." Rin said, and tightened his grip on his sword.

"You got it, Rin!" Hikaru agreed and held his zanpakuto up in front of his face, prepared to rip Donato apart.

"Leith, let's go!" Shouta said and the both of them ran toward their opponent, the **-5****th** Navaja, Custodio.

The two of them ran around and approached Custodio from both sides. Shouta jumped and swung his sword down on Custodio. However, Custodio made no attempt to dodge. Instead he simply put up his hand and grabbed Shouta's blade, then threw him abruptly to the side as Leith came up behind him. Again he did nothing but caught the sword with his bare hand and then pushed him away.

Shouta attacked a second time but it ended with the same result. Leith was about to strike from behind but then Custodio pulled Shouta around and slammed him into Leith, knocking them both back.

"You're too slow, how do you expect to win going on like this?" Custodio told the two of them.

Leith and Shouta got back to their feet. "Shut up, if it's so easy why aren't you attacking us?" Leith retorted.

"I believe I've already said that I don't actually wish to fight. I'm half-hoping that one of the other Navaja will finish their battle and take over for me before this drags on too long." Custodio said with a sigh.

"Hee, I wouldn't underestimate our side that much. Even assuming someone on your side does beat their opponent; chances are they'll be in too bad a shape to take over your fight." Shouta said.

Custodio sighed. "I'll admit you're probably right. It's a shame, but it looks like I will need to get serious and defeat the two of you myself." He said and drew his sword.

"Now that's more like it," Shouta said with a grin. "Bring it on!"

Custodio frowned as he raised his sword to Shouta's challenge. "Very well," He said simply and prepared to fight with his full strength.

For Keade, her fight had already begun with Ambrosio, the **-7****th**Navaja who found fighting her to be completely pointless as he slammed his sword down on top of Keade's. "There's no use attempting to fight me. If anyone can tell when a battle is over before it beings, it is Beatriz." Ambrosio told Keade, referring to the female Arrancar who he had killed not to long ago. "She was honestly trying to save your life by warning you that you could not beat me."

"Why should I care? Right now, you are my enemy; that means it is my job to beat you!" Keade said while holding Ambrosio's attack at bay with her sword.

"That is another thing, Beatriz told you not to put so much trust in your Soul King. Even after hearing information like that, you still plan to fight me for his sake?"

"No," Keade answered without hesitation, surprising Ambrosio. "Right now, I'm not fighting you because you are an enemy of Ronnin. I don't want to kill you because you want to kill the Soul King. Even the fact you work for Aizen who wants to destroy the Soul Society and erase Ronnin from existence means nothing to me right now."

"Then why do you fight?" Ambrosio questioned.

"I'm fighting for Akane." Keade answered, referring to the female Shinigami lying unconscious behind her. "Akane is barely alive as it is; even carrying her while running from you could still reopen her wounds and possibly lead to her death. Akane is my friend, and I'm not going to let you or anyone else lay a hand on her while I'm still breathing!" Keade warned Ambrosio and raised her reiatsu and pushed him away from her.

Ambrosio was surprised at Keade's loyalty to her comrade. That quality was an obvious difference between the two of them, as Ambrosio had not hesitated for a moment before killing off Beatriz. "I see, if that is the case then no matter what I say you will still refuse to back down. It is a pain, but I will simply have to kill you with my own power." Ambrosio said, and began to raise his own reiatsu to challenge Keade's.

The last of the Arrancar's that had recently came out to join the fight made her way until she stopped in front of two Shinigami that had yet to join the fighting. The two were Seiko and Terra, the twin siblings that were only surpassed by Ronnin in power.

Sensing their great power, the Arrancar grinned malevolently. "That's good, if it's the two of you, this shouldn't be over too quickly. I'll be able to have some fun for once." She said and popped her neck in preparation for the battle. The Arrancar had short dark purple hair and wore shorts and a V-neck shirt that showed her rank on her chest; the number was **-9**. The remnants of her hollow mask were over her left eye, accented in a spike on the side. "Just so you know, this makes me the second strongest Navaja you have to face." The Arrancar warned them, pointing at her rank to brag.

"The second strongest, that's good." Terra said as if relieved, surprising the Arrancar who expected them to cower at that proclamation. "Depending on how quickly we defeat you could determine which side wins this war. If you defeat the two of us, the chances you or the **-10 **could beat Ronnin are higher. But of course, the reverse is also true."

"I see, that's some interesting logic you have there Shinigami." The Arrancar said with a grin. "So you're saying this battle is really the deciding battle?" She said with a laugh. "Then bring it on Shinigami!"

"That's not our name you know, I'm Terra."

"My name is Seiko." Seiko said, and the two of them drew their swords.

"Hee, fine then, bring it on, Terra and Seiko; I'm Obdulia." Obdulia replied and drew her own sword.

Ronnin was away from the battles. It did not appear he intended to join in the battles at foot. If he was going to fight, it had to be against the strongest Arrancar in this group. It could his only chance to actually test if he is strong enough to take on Aizen. If he was forced to fight the weaker Arrancars beforehand, he still might end up handicapped against the head honcho. He had to put faith in the Royal Guard that they would finish off all the others before something like that happened.

This was a war they could not afford to lose.


	45. The Protector

_Chapter 44: The Protector_

Custodio was locked with Leith and Shouta as he held Leith's zanpakuto in his left hand and blocked Shouta's with his own sword. The two of them were raring down on him, but he continued to hold them back with little problem.

"Why aren't the two of you using Shikai? It should be obvious by now you will be unable to defeat me as you are now." Custodio said.

"Could say the same to you, all this time and you haven't even laid a finger on us." Shouta argued.

"As I have said, I do not enjoy fighting; I normally only step in to protect a comrade." Custodio said. "I simply do not wish to use my full strength against you if I can help it."

Shouta clicked his tongue hearing Custodio being so arrogant, and then he lifted his sword and swung at Custodio's midsection, and he jumped back to avoid it. "Alright then, you want Shikai? I'll give you Shikai; cut to ribbons, Tsuinfukako." Shouta said and released his zanpakuto's Shikai, a pair of huge green chakrams. "Let's get him, Leith!"

"Got it; pour over me and flood, Kozuinotsubasa." Leith called and released his own zanpakuto, which covered his arms in huge whips of water.

"Time to give you a taste of our real strength!" Shouta told Custodio and held one of his chakrams to the side, letting go of it and it began to spin around in place as wind picked up around it. "Asa Chorui," He said and threw the chakram at Custodio.

Custodio however did not look worried in the slightest, even with the swirling twister of an attack heading right toward him. All he did was hold out his hand where the weapon would strike. Shouta grinned, believing in his attack; and when it struck an explosion took place.

But although an explosion took place, it was in the wrong direction entirely. The blast wave that should have engulfed Custodio instead blew back toward Shouta and Leith, and the shockwave almost blasted the two of them onto their butts.

"What the hell?" Shouta spat out and looked at Custodio again.

When he did though, Custodio was holding the chakram in his hand, without as much as a scratch on him. "Do you understand yet?" Custodio asked. "The form of attack simply doesn't matter against me. You do not understand the extent of my power."

"Tch, return," Shouta said and held out his hand.

However, when his zanpakuto should have returned to his hand, it didn't seem to even recognize it was being called, and Custodio continued holding it. "Do you understand yet?" Custodio asked and then threw the chakram back at Shouta.

Shouta hurriedly rolled to the side and let the chakram fly past. "Return," He said again, and this time the chakram reacted accordingly and flew back around to his hand.

"Alright then, why not try this one!" Leith reacted and shot both his water whips, having them combine for extra strength.

"You still do not understand." Custodio muttered to himself, and held out his hand once more, and when the water struck his palm it was blasted backward as if hitting a brick wall.

Leith stared at Custodio bewildered. "Impossible-"

"Do you still not understand?" Custodio questioned once more, as if aggravated by there stupidity. "Even though you two are such a powerful team, you do not understand my power after all of this. If you are going to remain ignorant to this end, then I will end your lives here." He said, and for the first time in the battle charged at them.

Custodio approached Leith and stabbed his sword at his head. But suddenly, Shouta came in from the side and blocked Custodio's attack with one of his chakrams, and then swung his second at Custodio's head.

Custodio put up his free hand and grabbed the weapon before it could strike, but then Leith sent one of his water whips flying strait at him from the side. Seeing this development, Custodio used Sonido and moved back before the water whip struck him.

"Actually, we weren't ignorant of it!" Shouta proclaimed. "We just decided we weren't going to fight for real until you did." He explained, surprising Custodio.

"The two of you decided that? When could you have ever communicated that wish?" Custodio questioned, as the two of them had barely spoken five words to each other since their battle began.

"Since the beginning," Leith spoke up. "Shouta's first attack after releasing shikai was a signal to me not to fight with full strength. And even before this, when he said that we would get you. That phrase wasn't like Shouta at all; he would normally shout that he would _kill_ you. The fact he went out of his way to change the way he phrased it was already a signal he didn't intend to fight seriously."

Custodio understood the formula behind what Leith explained, but he was still surprised to see just how in tuned with each other these two were. "So you're saying you've been aware of my power from before even then?"

"That's right," Shouta declared and then raised one of his blades. "The power to reverse. That's the best way I can sum up your power at this point."

"A defense mechanism that reverses the reiatsu flow in an attack, reducing all damage to zero." Leith added. "You could think of it as an enhanced version of our innate ability to remain unharmed when attacked by those with drastically lower reiatsu than out own. But in your case it doesn't matter how powerful the attacker is, so long as you block it with your hand!" He noted, and then suddenly swung a water whip at Custodio from the side.

But Custodio proves him right by putting his hand out and deflecting the attack away from him. "If you use one of your hands, any attack that comes in contact with you will have all reiatsu creating its strength immediately shot backward, turning even a Shinigami's zanpakuto into a stick with no edge." Shouta finished the explanation. "But there is one stimulation to your power isn't there?" He asks and throws one of his blades at Custodio.

Custodio puts up his hand to block, but suddenly the blade flies to the side and around Custodio, circling around and aiming at his back while at the same time Shouta threw his second weapon at Custodio from the front. "If you block one attack, you're completely open for a second one!" He shouted, but then Custodio leaped into the air to get out of range.

However Custodio's weapons bended in the wind and flew upward to strike him despite his attempts. Also to Custodio's surprise, Leith suddenly jumped up after him and prepared to strike forward with one of his water whips. As a reflex, Custodio brought up his hand and deflected Leith's attack, but was left completely open to Shouta's chakrams as they struck his back, and then Leith struck him down to the ground with his second whip before he could block it, covering Custodio in a cloud of dust.

But quickly Custodio raised his reiatsu and blew the dust away from him and stood to his feet. "I see. it seems I have misjudged the two of you. I apologize, even though I do not like to fight, it seems I will have to use all my strength to defeat you." As Custodio declared this, he began to run forward at Shouta and Leith.

Shouta smirked and prepared himself. "Looks like you really serious this time; Leith, it's time to kill this guy!" He said, and then Leith grinned as well.

As Custodio approached, Leith swung both of his whips at him. One of the whips went strait for him while the other took a side detour in order to strike him from a second angle, making it impossible to block both at the same time.

But Custodio did not fret over this. If he knew they would attack him from more than one angle, he could make a counter for it regardless. Custodio held his hand forward while watching the second whip as he aimed at him from behind. The first attack struck Custodio's hand and was forced away from him, but even then the second attack was only inches away from hitting him as well.

But he already planned for this. Keeping his hand facing the water, Custodio side-stepped out of the way and let the two whips strike each other while keeping any scatter blast off himself. Past Leith's attack, Custodio swung his sword at Leith himself.

However Shouta suddenly jumped over Leith's whips and blocked with one of his chakrams and then swung the second at Custodio from the side. But the Custodio caught the blade in his hand and then raise his leg and kicked Shouta below his weapon and knocked him back into Leith, throwing them both into the ground.

Shouta doubled over in the air, and while still flying back threw both his chakrams. The path the giant throwing knives took however was not strait; even with Shouta on the ground at the time, the two weapons surfed the wind and moved around to attack Custodio from different angles as if they were homing on him.

"Burst," Shouta said as he got to one knee, and suddenly the wind circling the spinning weapons exploded in massive waves to catch Custodio from both sides.

But Custodio took action immediately. The waves of wind were coming at angles, so he used Sonido and ran backwards keeping just beyond the attacks range until they merged together as if one attack. At that moment Custodio was able to put his hand in front of him and cancel out both waves because they were coming from the same direction.

The backlash from being shot backward caused the sand at their feet to soar up and cloud the battlefield. Custodio waited for the dust to clear, but suddenly Shouta's chakrams flew out of the dust cloud, with one heading strait at him.

Custodio lifted his hand and the chakram immediately shot back and stuck into the ground. Custodio then turned his attention to the second chakram just as it was coming around at him. Instead of blocking it with his hand, Custodio deflected the weapon with his sword.

As the chakram reentered the dust cloud, it separated it and cleared the view, with Leith and Shouta standing at the opposite end, staring Custodio down as he did the same to them. "That's what I like to see." Shouta said as he caught his chakram. "That look that say your about to rip us to shreds. Looking like that, I know I won't have any regrets beating you down." He said, and then snapped to have his other chakram return to him. "Let's go, Leith." Shouta said, and the two of them ran forward to finish Custodio off.

While Shouta and Leith fought with Custodio, Kirio was just able to stand up and was currently healing Xun's wounds as he rest his back against a tree. Kirio wasn't nearly as adept at healing kido as Keade was, and since she herself was wounded she was unable to give 100% anyways. The progress may have been slow, but it was still progress; given enough time, they could still get back and help the others fight.

However, the time they needed was cut short by a sudden voice coming from somewhere nearby. "Dang it, Custodio went and did something troublesome." Hearing the voice, Kirio and Xun looked around, but saw no one. "I was hoping to fight you on fair terms, but it looks like it's hard for you to just stand up right now."

Xun narrowed his eyes as the voice said that, and suddenly it was sounding horribly familiar. "It couldn't be…" He whispered, but then the owner of the voice stepped out from behind a tree opposite of them to prove him wrong.

The person who stood in front of them now was none other than Alvaro, the previously believed deceased **-2****nd **Navaja. But for some reason, Alvaro appearance was different from before. His red hair was slightly longer and the ends rest on his shoulders, his stubble was gone, he was taller than before and instead of a full shirt, he just wore a short vest that covered his chest. But more so than his appearance, something was different about Alvaro, it was like he had become a completely different person.

"Impossible, how are you alive; you killed yourself off." Xun said and stood up, gripping his guns.

"He did what?" Kirio questioned, as she had only arrived after Alvaro's death.

"Stupid, I would have thought you would realize it right away, Xun! Well, let me tell you anyways; I told you that it was speculated my old ability could even create new life, right?" Alvaro said, and Xun actually looked upon him in shock.

"You mean you actually killed and recreated yourself?" He questioned.

The idea was completely absurd. Alvaro didn't actually have any proof he could pull that off, and yet he went ahead and killed himself with those slim chances it would work.

"And I even went and gave myself a few upgrades while I was at it too. Man, wasn't I such a nice guy?" Alvaro said with a laugh, and then snapped his fingers and flames appeared in his hand.

"Alvaro, you bastard," Xun growled and took a step forward.

But suddenly, Alvaro clenched his fist and the flame in his hand went out. "Don't call me Alvaro anymore. Even though I recreated myself even better than I was before, I'm technically a completely different person. My name – from this day forward – is Renato!" He stated and then prepared himself to enter a new battle with Xun and Kirio.

* * *

**AN: Okay, this was a completely spur of the moment idea****. Originally I had no plans to bring Alvaro back to life, but found that this plot twist makes his previous suicide so much less lame and decided to go for it!**


	46. Rise Again, Renato

_Chapter 45: 'Rise Again' – Renato_

"My name – from this day forward – is Renato!" Alvaro's self recreation proclaimed.

"Renato?" Kirio questioned.

"It fits right? The name means 'to rise again', so it fits my concept right now perfectly don't you think?" Renato added.

Xun stepped forward and aimed his guns at Renato. "Alvaro, Renato, it doesn't matter what your name is to me; your going to die all the same."

Renato laughed mockingly at Xun's confidence. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you; I did mention getting some upgrades right?" He said and then ran at Xun.

"Kirio, move aside!" Xun shouted and then fired off consecutive bullets at Renato.

However, Renato moved much faster than before; he ducked, juked, and dodged each bullet with precision until he was right in front of Xun. Renato then took his fist and punched at Xun, but he jumped back and just narrowly avoided the attack.

"It doesn't matter how many upgrades you gave yourself, you're still just the **-2****nd** Navaja!"

Kirio took her sword which was now in its sealed form and ran at Renato, but then Renato held up his hand, from which an invisible shockwave roared out and knocked Kirio back before she could even get close.

"Stay out of this woman, this fight is between me and Xun." Renato said, although it appeared that Kirio was knocked unconscious from the blast. "And as for you," He said, turning back to Xun. "Are you so naive as to think Alvaro couldn't recreate himself at an even higher level than he originally had?"

"What are you talking about; creating something stronger than yourself shouldn't be possible." Xun said.

It was an obvious fact; no matter how powerful one was, it would be impossible for them to create something from their power that exceeded it. "Normally you'd be correct, but not in this case." Renato said.

"Why is that?" Xun asked.

"Most people believe that you can get stronger by working hard and honing your skills; and to certain extents that way of thinking is not wrong." Renato admitted. "But that doesn't mean there isn't also an innate level of power someone possesses, even if they are unaware of it.

"Think about it, even Shinigami have such a standard. Their zanpakuto is the source of their power, and when they learn its name, they achieve an immediate power up, and they receive a second power up with Bankai. Through communication with their zanpakuto, they can even continue to grow in strength steadily until they reach even new heights."

"What's your point?"

"It all came from the zanpakuto! From the very moment a person becomes a Shinigami, they have a phenomenal amount of power hidden within their zanpakuto. The job of the Zanpakuto is not to give source to a Shinigami's power, but to regulate it!" As Renato shouted this possibility Xun began to realize what Renato was trying to say.

From the very beginning, all the power a Shinigami is capable of obtaining is held by the soul of their Zanpakuto, who gradually give that power to their Shinigami masters. But if that was so, then why couldn't they just give them all the power to begin with?

The answer was simple. "The Zanpakuto's duty is to train their master's body until it is physically capable of withstanding the power they already hold inside." Renato said.

That said, if someone like an unseated officer in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads were to be immediately given the ability to use Bankai by their zanpakuto spirit, the strain of suddenly having so much power would overwhelm their body tremendously, and possibly lead to an early death.

If what Renato believed was true, then it meant Alvaro did not technically create something stronger than himself, but created something with a better equipped to wield a greater amount of power inside and the various 'upgrade' given to Renato. If that idea was real, then there was no reason someone couldn't create a power twice as strong as what they have, because it would show they have the capability for reaching that height.

Confident his explanation was understood, Renato used Sonido and in the next second was right next to Xun. "But enough about that, I just want to beat you to a pulp!" He said and swung his leg at Xun.

Xun tried to dodge, but Renato was too fast and kicked him back. "Time to show you just how much power I've really got!" Renato said and held his hand forward.

Flames then shot out of Renato's hand and spiraled toward Xun. But then Xun held up his white gun and the black cross on the side faded away. He pulled the trigger of the gun, firing a single bullet that exploded from within Renato's flame and canceled them out.

But Renato did not seem angry about his attack being pushed back. "Just what I'd expect; now let's have some fun this time around." He said and ran at Xun.

Xun said nothing but ran forward as well, switching his pistols to blade mode. Xun stabbed his black blade forward, but Renato ducked and grabbed Xun's wrist, pulling him in and knocking their heads together. After that Renato clenched his fist and socked Xun in the gut.

But he wasn't done there, Renato used his power and shot a shockwave through his palm strait into Xun, blasting him back until his back struck a tree and he coughed up blood and fell to his hands and knee.

Renato scowled as he stretched his shoulder. "Ah, come on, after that butt whooping you gave Alvaro, you should be able to put up more of a fight than this, even if you were wounded by Custodio." Renato said with disappointment. "Now I'm starting to wonder if I should have left the woman conscious just to make this more a challenge for me." He said and eyed Kirio who was still knocked out to the side.

"Don't count me out just yet, Renato." Xun said as he got back to his feet. "I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve." He noted and then switched to gun mode, shooting an explosive bullet at the ground where Renato was standing.

Realizing this, Renato quickly used Sonido to get back and out of range just before the explosion took place. "Hee, you'll have to do better than-" Renato began, but then Xun suddenly jumped through the smoke of the explosion and had his zanpakuto in knife mode, throwing the white one at Renato's head. But Renato still managed to react in time and moved his head to the side where the blade only caught the edge of his hair and stabbed into the ground behind him. "Like I said!" Renato boast, but then Xun used Shunpo to get out of the way even though Renato had not done anything.

The reason presented itself a second afterward, spreading out from Xun's white knife behind him, an explosion rang out. Catching Renato completely off guard, he was unable to escape and was completely caught in the attack, emerging with bad burns on his back.

Renato attempted to get to his feet, but Xun wasn't going to waste his time waiting on him to get up. Without hesitation he pointed his black gun at his back and fired off three shots.

Hearing the shots, Renato swung his hand around and fired off a shockwave that deflected the bullets just in time and then got to his feet to face Xun again. "Now that's more like it." He told Xun while smiling with satisfaction of a good battle.

Xun walked up and picked up his white blade and turned it into a gun again. "And there's plenty more where that came from." He stated, and the two stared each other down before continuing their round two.


	47. Know your Enemies

_Chapter 46: Know Your Enemies_

As Hikaru shot a bolt of lightning from his zanpakuto, Donato jumped and flipped backwards to avoid it and then jumped off a tree, launching himself at Hikaru. When he swung his blade, Rin intercepted and blocked and Hikaru jumped back.

Hikaru's zanpakuto had always been more suited for long-range fighting while Rin normally tried to restrain using his Shikai at all, making him excellent in close combat. Back when the two of them were Captain and Lieutenant, they had always used these facts as their fighting style. While Rin fought up close and defended Hikaru, he would assist with long-range cover fire.

Rin pushed Donato's blade back and swung his own down, but Donato jumped back and avoided it. However at that moment a bolt of lighting shot past Rin and curved back toward him. In reaction, Donato held his blade up and the lightning was held at bay, being conducted by the metal blade.

Rin looked worried and took a step back, however Hikaru was quite opposite. Hikaru suddenly ran past Rin and charged toward Donato. "Hikaru, wait!" Rin shouted, but Hikaru did not listen.

"Yeah, let's have some fun with this!" Hikaru shouted and swung his zanpakuto, shooting another lightning bolt at Donato from a closer range.

Donato didn't seem worried or even a bit surprised and then flipped to the side and dodged it, and then swung his sword at Hikaru from close range. Hikaru only grinned wider as he put his electric blade in the way and blocked Donato's sword while the electricity flowed through the metal blade. Hikaru readied a path of reiatsu for the lightning to follow into Donato and prepared to send the high voltage bolt into Donato and paralyze him.

"It's over!" Hikaru said, but just before he shot the bolt of lightning, Rin suddenly ran in beside the two of them and swung his sword at Donato's neck.

Donato bent back and moved out of Hikaru's lightning bolt path. Donato span a 360 and blocked a second strike from Rin, and then both of them pushed against each other and jumped away from the other.

"Hey Rin, what are you doing, I had him!" Hikaru shouted at Rin, who knew him well enough to realize what his plan was and not to interfere.

"Idiot, can't you even tell when something's been wrong with your own zanpakuto this whole fight?" Rin asked Hikaru, who gave an expression of shock. "The lightning released from your zanpakuto can only move it set paths you preset with your reiatsu. That fact doesn't change if something gets in the way, even if it does conduct electricity."

Rin was absolutely right. Hikaru was the kind of person who would forget everything except for the heat of the moment in a fight, so he didn't even think about how Donato was somehow blocking his lightning strikes with his zanpakuto's blade. Under normal circumstances, even if his opponent did put something in the way of the lightning's path, all that would happen is that the lightning would slip through it and continue on the other side.

"So how did you keep my lightning strikes at bay when it can't be blocked that easily?" Hikaru asked, turning to Donato.

Donato closed his eyes as he thought about how to respond and laughed to himself. "It appears I've been found out." He said casually, as if it didn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. "My ability is reiatsu control. This power grants me certain… privileges in the strength, intensity, and in your case the direction of my opponents' reiatsu."

"Excuse me; you're saying you can keep us from releasing our full power?" Rin asked, as lowering the strength of their reiatsu would be the equivalent of prohibiting the use of a heavy weight lifters arm, making it more difficult for them to lift something they could normally lift if they used both arms.

"There are of course stimulations and limits to my power." Donato replied. "I can only activate my ability on people whose names I know; Rin, Hikaru."

"That explains why you seemed more interested than usual about introductions." Rin said.

"As I said before, names are the foundation of one's soul." Donato reminded them. "And the same rule applies to your zanpakuto as well, Kaminarinoshogeki." He informed them, at which Hikaru gasped and took a step back.

If what Donato was saying was true, then it meant he had at least partial control of his zanpakuto's powers. Even if he couldn't turn the ability around at him, he could keep it from striking him as long as need be. "So you're ability has made my Shikai completely useless against you?"

"Not completely, but it gives me enough authority to keep your long-range bolts from reaching me." Donato told him.

Once Hikaru was told this, he grinned and looked back at Rin. "You hear that, Rin?" He asked with a tone of satisfaction.

"Yeah, I heard it." Rin replied and began walking forward with his blade out to the side. "Glide over frozen seas, Burufenikkusume." Rin stated the name of his zanpakuto despite knowing Donato's ability would give him partial control over it.

Rin's zanpakuto was released into Shikai, and then Rin jumped straight up into the air and gripped his sword's hilt with both hands. Like that, he swung his zanpakuto's blade down and a phoenix made of ice shot out and flew at Donato.

Donato watched as it closed in. "It's useless." He stated, and just before the ice beast stuck him down, Donato swung his blade across the phoenix's face, and although the blade barely scratched the surface of the ice, his ability caused the attack to shatter like glass.

However, as soon as it did, Donato suddenly found himself face-to-face with Hikaru, who had gotten up-close and personal using Rin's attack as cover. Donato told them he had enough authority to keep Hiakru's long-range bolts from ever reaching him, so the two of them were taking a chance on the idea he might not be able to keep its abilities at bay if he were to be attacked directly by the electrified blade.

Donato may know what their powers were, but that didn't mean he knew all their battle strategies. Because he hadn't expected the two to switch roles so suddenly, Donato was caught by surprise and didn't have enough time to dodge or block.

The attack went through. "Okay, now it's over." Hikaru said with a grin as his blade covered in lightning cut into Donato's chest.

Donato jumped away from Hikaru as soon as possible. The wound was bad, but it wasn't enough to kill him, so he wondered why Hikaru felt so confident it was over with that attack. "It's not over yet, Hikaru." Donato told him. "It will take more than a scratch like this to-" But Donato suddenly cut himself off when he tried to take a step forward and realized his legs wouldn't respond. In fact, it wasn't just his legs, but his entire body had stopped moving according to his commands. "Paralysis!?" Donato realized.

"Yeah, that there is another of my zanpakuto's abilities." Hikaru told Donato while stretching his shoulder, relaxing since he could no longer do anything. "Whenever my zanpakuto's lightning strikes an opponent, the electricity runs throughout their body to paralyze their nerves and muscles; even minor scratches can paralyze a person's limb, but with a wound like that, your entire body is now unable to respond."

Donato scowled as he attempted to move his limbs. "You underestimate me," He said, and then his arms began to move despite the paralysis, although the movement was shaky. "If I focus the authority I have over our zanpakuto on myself, I can overcome the paralysis."

"But will it be enough?" Rin asked, stepping up beside Hikaru. "You just said to overcome it; you have to focus your authority. If you focus too much of your authority into overcoming one power…" He began, and then swung his blade, shooting another phoenix of ice at Donato. "You won't have enough to suppress a second power!"

The frozen beast approached Donato, but the paralysis was still keeping him from moving very well. Before he was able to get out of the way, it struck. However, to Rin and Hikaru's surprise, the beast of ice shattered a second time.

"You don't seem to understand my power completely. The authorities I have over your two zanpakuto, as well as over the two of you, are separate from one another. Even if I focus all my authority over Kaminarinoshogeki, the amount of authority I am able to put over Burufenikkusume remains unchanged." Donato tells Rin, and then takes a step forward with a bit more ease than before. "If I continue to apply my authority over the paralysis, eventually I will be able to remove its effect altogether. However, until then only my authority over the other abilities of Kaminarinoshogeki will be weaker." Donato said, but then in that second he did, a lightning bolt shot out from Hikaru's zanpakuto and struck Donato, and his movements became slower again.

"You probably shouldn't have told me that." Hikaru noted. "If you can't keep me from attacking you, then battle is over for real, the more attacks I hit you with, the stronger the paralysis is." Hikaru stated and then walked right up to Donato, who was unable to move an inch to even try and attack. "Meaning all that's left is to finish you off." He said and raised his zanpakuto, and then swung it down on top of him without mercy.

But then, something strange happened. Before Hikaru went through with his attack, he was suddenly blasted backward by an unseen force. "Hikaru!?" Rin shouted as Hikaru was blown straight past him. "What did you-" Rin turned to ask Donato a question, but before he finished he was suddenly blown back by the same kind of mysterious phenomenon.

"What did I do you ask? I'd think it should be obvious; I simply used the full extent of my authority on your own reiatsu." Donato said, and Rin and Hikaru were completely unable to respond to that.

Donato had explained before that he had, to some extent, control over their reiatsu simply by knowing their names. This meant that he could make it so they were unable to fully release their power, although the extent of this power was uncertain. However, they had not expected Donato to be capable of doing something like this.

"My authority over your reiatsu does give me the ability to restrain its output, but my ability does simply end at that. I am also able to make your reiatsu lose control, and attack you using your own strength as my weapon."

"No way…" Rin muttered, becoming wide-eyed as he stood up, holding his side in pain.

Donato opened and closed his hand to see how much of Hikaru's paralysis had worn off, but his hand was still difficult to move. "But I can see that this level of power is not enough to defeat you in my current condition." He said, and then slowly held his zanpakuto above his head, and then spoke in a strong voice. "Bow down, Rendirse."

As Donato called the name of his zanpakuto, his reiatsu became a white field that hid his appearance during his Resurreccion. The strength of his reiatsu was so heavy that neither Rin nor Hikaru could move. Actually, Rin realized this pressure was not just the strength of Donato's reiatsu, but it was the effect of his authority over their reiatsu being increased to such a degree that his felt more powerful then it was.

When Donato's Resurreccion was complete, his field of reiatsu diminished to reveal his true form. Now, something like jewels were spotted across his arms and his hollow mask had stretched down in spikes on the side of his face like sideburns.

Donato looked back between Rin and Hikaru and then walked forward with no problem, demonstrating his new level of authority allowed him to completely remove the paralysis easily. "Now then, allow me to show the true extent of my power."


	48. Keade's Impossible Foe

_Chapter 47: Keade's Impossible Foe_

Keade and Ambrosio clashed swords with one another over and over while holding nothing back. Keade knew she couldn't afford to give an inch or else she'd be putting Akane in danger. Holding back was simply not an option for her, especially considering the warning given to her from the Arrancar Beatriz. Keade could feel that actually, she had a stronger reiatsu than Ambrosio, so if she didn't figure out why she was supposedly unable to beat him, she would never have a shot.

However, Keade couldn't even be sure that Ambrosio knew why Beatriz had claimed this fight was impossible for her. He might have had a guess by diverging to what his base ability was best suited for fighting, but until he saw what Keade's powers were, he might not be sure of the exact reason himself.

Ambrosio and Keade jumped back from each other once more and then Keade held her zanpakuto horizontally facing her opponent. "Hado #32: Okasen," Keade called, and then a yellow beam of energy condensed along the blade of her sword and then shot toward Ambrosio.

Ambrosio saw this with plenty of time to get out of the way, but instead he opted to run straight forward into the attack that then struck him full force. However, as if that decision wasn't enough of a surprise to Keade, when the kido struck his body, it was as if the kido was being cut in two by his body. It was not enough to say that the attack simply had not injured Ambrosio, because even in the case a hado spell did not injure the target, an explosion of the energy would still take place upon striking them.

However, such an event did not occur this time. As the kido spell hit Ambrosio, it was as if the portion of the attack that touched his body became nullified, while the ends of the beam that had not touched him directly continued on behind him until they crashed into the ground behind.

Keade had indeed been shocked by this happening; however, she could not allow that to take her off guard as Ambrosio swung his blade at her again. Keade put her sword up and blocked the attack. Ambrosio had given up attempting to make Keade give up on the fight after seeing her determination; so the only thought on his mind now was simply crushing her.

Ambrosio retreated once again and the two of them stared each other down for a moment. Both of them were giving their all because they had no room to give anything less. Because of how great a struggle the battle, Keade had only one option left to her. "Sprout, Rutosupaiku." She called the name of her zanpakuto and the blade became three long green roots with thorns.

Ambrosio watched Keade without saying a word as she charged forward and twirled the roots together like a spear and stabbed for his head. To counter, Ambrosio ducked down just before he was struck when it would be too late for Keade to make a counter herself.

Ambrosio swung his blade at Keade's center where she would be unable to stop her momentum and dodge. So instead, she allowed her momentum to continue and jumped in a front flip and skip over Ambrosio to get behind him. The moment her feet touched the ground she twisted her body and swung her zanpakuto at Ambrosio from the side.

But Ambrosio held up his sword and blocked the attack. However, blocking Keade's Shikai was not that simple a task. When the roots of her zanpakuto met Ambrosio's blade, they bent around and continued on to stab at Ambrosio's face. In reaction, Ambrosio twisted his head and jumped away, but not before the tip of the roots made a thin cut on his cheek.

"For someone who is supposedly able to defeat me absolutely, you sure seem to be dodging a lot." Keade stated.

Ambrosio flicked the line of blood on his cheek off with his thumb and looked back at Keade's zanpakuto. "Do not get too cocky after one attack. I've told you already; if there is anyone who can tell when a battle is over before it begins, it is Beatriz. She would not have made such a definite declaration if it were not true."

"I will be the one to decide who I can and can't defeat. Forget what Beatriz said, we'll judge whose superior with our own hands." Keade told Ambrosio, and then suddenly stabbed her roots into the ground.

A second later, a number of roots came up from the ground around Ambrosio and encircled him. After this the spikes each twisted along a path and stabbed for Ambrosio from almost ten different angles. But Ambrosio didn't let this stop him. He waited for them to close in and then jumped through a gap in the attacks with Sonido to dodge.

But like with Keade's first attack, the roots all twisted around to come at him again. Still he refused to let this stop him and continually used Sonido to keep himself out of range of the roots. "An attack like this may be hard to dodge, but its weakness is obvious." Ambrosio stated and then changed his direction and charged straight for Keade.

Because Keade had to have her zanpakuto stabbed into the ground for this ability, she could not well protect herself from direct attacks without ceasing the ability first. Realizing this fact, Ambrosio headed straight for her and swung his zanpakuto down on her shoulder.

The roots were approaching Ambrosio from behind, but they would not be fast enough to stop the attack. But what happened next did not go exactly as he planned. Suddenly, more roots shot up from the ground directly between Keade and Ambrosio, heading straight for Ambrosio's chest.

Now Ambrosio couldn't stop his momentum in time to pull back and dodge. And even if he could, the approaching roots from behind would get him for sure. But even then, the most surprising occurrence happened after this.

She was unable to explain how or why, but when the roots hit Ambrosio, the same phenomenon that had occurs with her kido happened now. The roots had definitely made contact with her opponent, but in the moment they did, they were somehow dissolved into nothing.

Even worse, because Keade's attack had not worked, Ambrosio's attack continued unhindered. His zanpakuto ripped into Keade's shoulder, giving her a heavy wound that would hinder her battle performance.

As soon as she could, Keade ripped her zanpakuto out of the ground and jumped away from Ambrosio. "What the hell?" She breathed out as the roots that had sprouted from the ground withered into dust.

Ambrosio watching this happen and made his assessment. "I see, now I understand."

"What are you talking about?" Keade asked.

"Beatriz's reason in saying you would be unable to defeat me." Ambrosio answered. "If that was your zanpakuto's only ability, then your power is completely useless again me."

"But why? That doesn't make any sense!" Keade said.

The scratch on Ambrosio's check was undeniable proof that she was able to injure him with her zanpakuto. So what was the difference between her first attack and her second? Also, what similarity was there between her kido attack and her zanpakuto's ability?

"My ability is the nullification of anything compressed of reshi or reiatsu, such as cero or your kido." Ambrosio told Keade. "I didn't realize it at first, but it appears that your zanpakuto's power to create a seemingly endless number of roots it accomplished by gathering and compressing natural reshi from the ground into the form of your weapon."

Keade clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes as Ambrosio spoke. Of course she had known her zanpakuto's power utilized the reshi in the earth, that was why is she took her zanpakuto's main body out of the ground, the extra roots would wither into dust; they were unable to retain the physical shape she had given it without something supporting it.

But because Ambrosio's power made him immune to her zanpakuto's power as well as her kido, she had been put into a horrible disadvantage. This was because it was those exact two elements she normally relied on most in combat. If she needed to use long-range tactics against an opponent, she would use her kido, and at any other time, she would normally use her zanpakuto's ability to corner them with attacks from multiple directions.

If Ambrosio was immune to both of those fighting style's, all Keade had left to rely on was regular sword fighting techniques. But the problem there was that Keade was already giving her all and still struggling to attack Ambrosio; not to mention that he had yet to even release his zanpakuto, meaning he wasn't even using his full power.

The realization of Beatriz's words was finally dawning on Keade as true. With this much of a disadvantage, Keade had an extremely slim shot at defeating Ambrosio. She was simply so great a disadvantage that she could not see how she could overcome it.

Ambrosio relaxed himself and then asked Keade a question. "Now that you understand, will you surrender and allow me to kill you quickly?"

However, as he finished his question, Keade's reiatsu began to rise to new heights, and Ambrosio saw that the determination in her eyes had not been diminished, but rather it had only become even stronger. "I've already told you: nothing matters to me right now except for keeping Akane safe. As long as I can accomplish that, even if it just means stalling until she wakes up and can run away, I am prepared to give my life to make sure she can return safely."

"What can you possibly do now? Should I release my zanpakuto just to show you how little a chance you actually have of even accomplishing that?" Ambrosio questioned, holding his sword up as a threat.

"No," Keade answered surprisingly. "You should release your zanpakuto so that you might put this battle back on equal terms."

As Keade spoke that confusing statement, she held her up to the side of her face. Then, her reiatsu began to condense into a solid shape over her face; it was a white mask with swirled red marks on the cheeks. It was a Hollow's mask.

But this did not stun Ambrosio. The Navaja were already aware the Royal Guard possessed this ability, so he had expected Keade to use this power eventually. But even though the action had not surprised him, the result was a different question.

Keade's reiatsu skyrocketed with the addition of her Hollow mask. With a steely-white color surrounding her body, the female Shinigami used Shunpo and instantly came up in front of Ambrosio with not her zanpakuto raised, but her fist. Before Ambrosio could react, Keade sent her fist flying at Ambrosio's face and he was sent flying backward from the immense strength behind her punch.

Keade did this in order to put distance between them and Akane, whose body might be put under strain while under this much pressure from her reiatsu while unconscious. Also, if she put enough distance between her battle and Akane, Keade would be able to fight more effectively without worrying about defending her.

When she caught back up to Ambrosio, he had stood up and rubbed the back of his hand against his bruised cheek. "To think your power could increase so much with a single action. I hadn't expected this much out of you. But this will not change the outcome of this battle. I will defeat you, that is simply a fact." Ambrosio told Keade, gripping his sword with both hands and preparing himself to continue the fight.

"_I thought I told you already,_" Keade said. "_I will determine who I can and cannot defeat. I don't care what anyone else says, the two of us will determine the winner of this battle with our own hands!_" Keade warned Ambrosio, clenching her fist as readying herself for the worst that was yet to come.


End file.
